The team has opted to design an entirely new hybrid system. The hybrid racer will be four-wheel drive, with a 3.5 litre V6 twin-turbo powering the rear axle with 671bhp. The front-axle will have 270bhp provided to it with an electric motor.
The total power is capped at 500kW (671bhp) in LMH rules, with the GR010 Hybrid’s advanced electronics dictate the amount of hybrid boost used to ensure it doesn’t go over the limit
The team has maintained a stable driver line-up, which includes team boss Kamui Kobayashi. He’s joined in the No7 car by fellow WEC champions Mike Conway and José María López. The No8 car is driven by Sébastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley.
Glickenhaus
The American Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus team has a single Italian-built SCG007 entered full-time WEC, after running two cars at Le Mans 2022. It has gone non-hybrid, plumping for a bespoke twin-turbo V8 produced by Pipo Moteurs.
The US-based company recently announced a link-up with 15-times Le Mans winner Joest Racing, provide personnel and support to the race team. Sauber have been employed to develop the aerodynamics, the Swiss squad having won Le Mans overall with Mercedes in 1989.
The drivers being run at Le Mans by Glickenhaus are Pipo Derani, Romain Dumas, and Olivier Pla in the No708, and Franck Mailleux, Nathanaël Berthon and Esteban Gutierrez in the No709.
Founder Jim Glickenhaus has also indicated his willingness to take his cars over to his home nation for races in IMSA.
“I want to do Daytona and I want to Sebring and why not Petit Le Mans [at Road Atlanta] as well?” he said.
“I’m more interested in those races than I am in going to Bahrain, Japan or wherever to race in the WEC: I don’t sell [road] cars there, but I do in America.”
Peugeot
After unveiling its radical new 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar to compete at the enduro classic and WEC in 2022, Peugeot made its debut at that year’s 6 Hours of Monza.
Utilising a hybrid power system, the car’s rear wheels are powered by 671bhp petrol engine, whilst the front axle is turned by a 268bhp electric motor. Glickenhaus and Toyota also use twin-turbo V6s.
Initial images of the 9X8 saw it feature no rear wing, with the team generating downforce from the under-floor of the car and other parts of the rear bodywork.
Peugeot’s driver line-up features two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne, 2020 Le Mans LMP2 winner Paul Di Resta, eight-time DTM race-winner Nico Müller, 2013 overall winner Loïc Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Mikkel Jensen.
Ferrari
Ferrari announced its Le Mans Hypercar programme in February 2022, after several months of speculation. The team had openly said that it was examining the possibility and now returns to the Le Mans 24 Hours race on its centenary.
Adding to its current tally of nine overall wins is undoubtedly the target for a brand once synonymous with the blue riband enduro.
The 499P Le Mans Hypercar was revealed last October at Ferrari’s Finali Mondiali extravaganza at Imola.
“We chose LMH because it is important for Ferrari to make all the car and all the parts,” said Competizione GT boss Antonello Coletta, who revealed the 900v battery powering the bespoke 200kW ERS has been developed from learnings gained in Formula 1. “Ferrari is a constructor, the manufacturer of the car, and for us it is not our philosophy to buy a part. We decided to come back into prototypes when the rules gave us the chance to make all the car. This car is a manifesto of the technologies of Ferrari.”
The team has made a brilliant return to the top table of sports car racing, taking a pole on debut in Sebring and locking out the front row in Le Mans, before its No51 car of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi went on to win the race.
The No50 sister car has former GT drivers Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, with the N051 featuring
Aston Martin
Over ten years since it last ran in Le Mans’ top class and 64 years since the British brand won overall, Aston Martin has announced it will compete at Le Mans from 2025 with its own Valkyrie Hypercar, joining both the World Endurance Championship and and US-based IMSA series.
The 6.5-litre, 1000+bhp machine – originally ‘conceived’ by F1 design legend Adrian Newey and road-car stylist Miles Nurnberger – was originally slated to enter WEC for 2021 but was then withdrawn in 2020 when Hypercar rules were tweaked and new owner Lawrence Stroll directed the company towards F1, will now take on the might of Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche, BMW and many more at La Sarthe for the world’s greatest endurance race.
“We have been present at Le Mans since the earliest days, and through those glorious endeavours we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class 19 times over the past 95 years,” said chairman Stroll.
“Now we return to the scene of those first triumphs aiming to write new history with a racing prototype inspired by the fastest production car Aston Martin has ever built.”
Following the cancellation of its previous Hypercar intentions, the Valkyrie was modified to become the AMR Pro track day car, in addition to a road-going version. The latter will now be adapted to the current Hypercar regulations, though its power unit will be based on the AMR Pro’s non-hybrid Cosworth, in contrast to the hybrid-powered Ferrari and Toyota plus the the equivalent LMDh contenders.
The team will be run by The Heart of Racing squad, which previously has GT experience in WEC, IMSA and other sports car series.
Though Aston has just a single overall victory at the blue riband sports car race, it’s one which has endured in the memory after a steely drive by future Ford GT40 mastermind Carroll Shelby and British sports car ace Roy Salvadori. The manufacturer’s endurance presence and reputation has since been maintained by a successful GT operation.
Since its sole victory in ’59, the famous British marque has had a number of high-profile top class failures, including the Nimrod NRA/C2 and AMR-1 Group C machines, as well as the Lola Aston-Martin B09/60 and Aston Martin AMR-One LMP1 efforts – the last of which ran in 2011.
The brand will be hoping to banish the memory of these slightly lacklustre projects with its latest Hypercar effort, which will be developed at the new F1 base at Silverstone.
Vanwall
The former LMP1 and LMP2 squad ByKolles has developed a Hypercar – with the famous ‘Vanwall’ moniker, Britain’s and F1’s first constructors’ champion.
A mainstay of the LMP1 class since 2014, ByKolles went down the prototype route, but intend to produce a road car version also.
Called the Vanedervell 680, the Hypercar will be produced both as a track day car and a road car, in addition to the racing model.
The road car will produce over 1000bhp and have a hybrid system but the LMH will be reined in at 700bhp, in part due to the fact it will be running a normally aspirated non-hybrid system.
The team will carries over its Gibson V6 from its ENSO CLM P1/01 LMP1 challenger, eschewing the hybrid route.
ByKolles drivers Tom Dillman, Esteban Guerrieri and Tristan Vautier make up the single-car driver line-up.
Others
Ford was involved in negotiating the rules for LMH, and was thought to have expressed an interest in developing a new Hypercar of its own, but has now opted to develop its new road-going Ford Mustang for the GT3 rules in IMSA’s GTD Pro class.
McLaren was also a widely mooted a candidate, but since changed tack and pushed (successfully) for LMH/LMDh convergence. However, its announcement of having an option on Formula E and entering Extreme E for the 2022-2023 season has likely delayed any potential Le Mans plans.