Ferrari has confirmed there will be no expansion of its 499P Le Mans Hypercar program into the IMSA SportsCar Championship next year.
The renowned Italian automaker has unveiled plans for 2025 that exclude participation in the North American series, where the 499P qualifies in the GTP class, focusing instead on the World Endurance Championship with a continuous three-car effort in Hypercar.
Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s head of sportscar racing, stated to Motorsport.com that the company “prefers to consolidate [its] program” rather than stretching to a second series as they enter their third season of competition with their two-time Le Mans 24 Hours-winning LMH.
“Next year we will be focused solely on the WEC and not IMSA – we are concentrating on the WEC with three cars,” he remarked.
This will feature two factory 499Ps operated by AF Corse in the Hypercar class, along with a newly introduced 2024 customer or satellite entry, also run by AF, which competes for the FIA Endurance Trophy for hypercar teams instead of manufacturers’ points.
The campaign with the yellow-liveried Ferrari, driven this year by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman, will proceed “unless there are any surprises,” Coletta noted.
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Coletta has expressed an aspiration to see the 499P compete in the USA, an important market for Ferrari’s road vehicles.
Giuseppe Risi, a veteran US sportscar entrant whose team currently fields a Ferrari 296 GT3 in IMSA’s endurance races, is open about his ambition to return to the prototype category with Ferrari, a brand he has championed for over 25 years.
“At this moment, there is no immediate plan to enter the American market, but it is certainly a possibility for the future,” Coletta explained. “We need to take the necessary time for each phase of our development.”
Ferrari’s last participation in the premier class of North American sportscar racing was with the 333SP customer model, constructed according to IMSA’s World Sports Car regulations.
This vehicle competed from 1994 until 2003, achieving one win at the Daytona 24 Hours and three victories at the Sebring 12 Hours.
