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Ferrari Eyes Le Mans LMP1 Entry, Starts Rumor About it

There aren't many ways in which a popular carmaker can make Ferrari feel inferior, and wiping the floor with the supercar maker at Le Mans seems to be one of the best ones. Ford has done exactly that five times already, with the latest having taken place at this year's Le Mans endurance race.
Ferrari LMP1 mule 5 photos
Photo: S.Baldauf/SB-Medien
Ferrari Le Mans LMP1 muleFerrari Le Mans LMP1 muleFerrari Le Mans LMP1 muleFerrari Le Mans LMP1 mule
Ferrari didn't find it funny in '66, '67, '68 and '69 and it most certainly didn't find it amusing in 2016 either. Sadly for the Italians, it looks like Ford's GT victory in the GTE Pro category wasn't a fluke, and the Americans are in it for the long run.

This is probably the exact reason why Ferrari has been hinting that it wants to return to the LMP1 class for more than a couple of years now. The latest rumor sprung right after the 2016 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Efrain Olivares, Ferrari North America's Motorsports PR representative, dropped a small Twitter bomb by announcing that Ferrari is preparing an LMP1 program as early as the 2017 season. Soon after, he dismissed the Tweet with another one, this time claiming that it was just a joke. But was it?

Two and a half years ago, a strange LaFerrari prototype was making rounds on the Internet, and many thought that Ferrari was already preparing a return to the Queen class at Le Mans. Back then, the rumor mill was implying that Maranello might use a heavily modified version of the 1.6-liter V6 from Formula 1 to power an LMP1 single-seater, and it kind of made sense at the time.

Now that they got their tooshie whooped by Ford once again, the Italians may have gotten some extra incentives to transform those rumors into reality. Then again, it's not like an LMP1 win is a walk in the park either, especially since Porsche, Toyota and Audi are investing a lot of dough in their programs. The last time Ferrari raced in the top category at Le Mans happened back in 1973, when a factory backed 312PB managed to finish in second place.
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About the author: Alex Oagana
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Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project.
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