Will Ferrari Ever Win Le Mans Again?

A factory Ferrari team or a Ferrari customer car?

I think a huge question would be if Ferrari themselves would even run at Le Mans again.

A team like AF Corse has a shot but I think it'd take some luck (i.e. Ford, Corvette, and Porsche dropping out) for it to happen.

 

Assuming you mean factory, that'd be awesome!!
Couldn't the hybrid technology of LaF, turbo of 488, aerodynamic and CFD expertise from F1, etc. be leveraged to get competitive? On that other hand -does their impending public offering make this very unlikely?
T

 

When was the last time a GT car won overall?

Unless Ferrari decides to go all in and create an LMP1 program - highly unlikely - we can only look for class wins.

 

True.

 

Considering the competition at LeMans today and the amount of money involved.....I would say the above statement applies. Only way it could be done is if Ferrari stops its F-1 program and dedicates itself to LeMans. As stated, the above staement applies.

 

a Ferrari 458 won GTE-AM two weeks ago...how soon we forget

they also won GTE-PRO last year.

that said, they ain't winning OA anytime soon without a massive budget and long technical program.

 

Mclaren F1 in 1995.

 

The GT1 back then, didn't have much in common with the GTE today.

Honestly, I cannot see a GTE winning under the present rules.

 

agree, but that wasn't the question

McLaren F1 was the last GT car to win it, even if that was effectively the top class at the time.

 

The only way Ferrari could win is bringing someone with a strong authority, direction and vision.

Luca Di Montezemolo

 

The Porsche that won this year had a gasoline engine.

 

Le Mans, or even endurance, doesn't seem to be a priority in the FIAT-Chrysler's strategy.
They continue to put all their eggs in the same basket: F1.

It's probably better that way. There are not many company that pursue F1 and endurance goals at the same time.

 

And an absurd amount of money I´d say.

 

AF Corse already has beaten most of those, but to beat all the protoypes (around 20 cars) with a GT car they wouldn´t need some luck but a miracle.

 

Ferrari doesn't care about the overall at Le Mans. Too bad they didn't put more weight behind the F40 and F50 when they were relevant.

As for what it would take now, that's far too much of a distraction from F1. But can you imagine the glory and fanfare if the LaF LM or an even more extreme creation took the crown?!! The media blitz and advertising revenue would be massive. I wish the powers that be would look at it that way. The dull-looking topless Audis that won for many years in a row were very unexciting; I stopped watching altogether until the closed-cockpit Darth Vader diesels starting coming into the picture! But a screaming Ferrari V-12 at the very front would be vastly more satisfying.

 

This type of thread seems to pop up every year. And, every year, the answer is always
the same.

Luca Di Montezemolo had the opportunity to enter factory prototypes at Le Mans during
the WSC days in the 90s with 333-SPs. He opted instead to give his blessings to privateer
efforts some of which ran well but came up short. The thought at the time was that it would
take a full factory effort for a 333-SP to win Le Mans overall and that never happened.

For a GTE entry to win Le Mans now is quite simply impossible. The factory entered LMP-1
Porsches, Audis, Toyotas are by leaps and bounds faster and their ultimate strength, reliability,
automatically locks any GTE entry out of contention for an overall win.

Ferrari will be coming with the 488 GT next year and with turbo boost should be solid competitive
against the Porsches, Corvettes, Aston Martins, etc.

It would take a massive turning back of the clock for a GT entry to win overall at Le Mans.
And, with the popularity of the current formula (the WEC being the most relevant series
in the world) and factory entries supporting LMP-1, the ACO would be insane to make
any changes at this point.

BHW

 

The last time I heard, Ferrari wanted to limit its production, and even to slightly scale it down. This to maintain the mark prestige and not devalue the brand.

Ferrari doesn't need to go back at Le Mans to advertise, and it would probably not affect its sales whatsoever if it pulled out of F1.