The Ferrari 499P is a

sports prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to simply as a prototype, is a type of Auto racing, race car that is used in high-level categories of sports car racing. They are purpose-built auto-sports race cars, as opposed to production-car based or s ...

built by

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari (; ), currently racing under Scuderia Ferrari HP, is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "the Pranc ...

to compete in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

in the

Le Mans Hypercar A Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) is a type of sports prototype race car that competes alongside LMDh entries in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It also competes in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class of the IMSA SportsC ...

category since 2023. The introduction of the 499P marks 50 years since Ferrari last fielded a factory-backed sports prototype that contested for the overall win at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

, and one of the 499Ps raced with the number 50 as a tribute. The car was unveiled in October 2022 at the Ferrari Finali Mondiali, Ferrari's annual finale for their one-make series,

Ferrari Challenge The Ferrari Challenge is a One-Design, single-marque Auto racing, motorsport championship that was created in 1993, initially catering to owners of the 348 Challenge who wanted to race their cars. The first European season took place in 1993, ...

. The car made its competitive debut at the season-opening round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 2023 1000 Miles of Sebring. On its first outing at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 499P driven by

Antonio Giovinazzi Antonio Maria Giovinazzi (; born 14 December 1993) is an Italian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Ferrari. Giovinazzi competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Giovinazzi won the 24 Hour ...

Alessandro Pier Guidi Alessandro Pier Guidi (born December 18, 1983) is a racing driver from Italy. A Ferrari factory driver since 2017, he won the LMGTE Pro FIA World Endurance Championship in 2017, 2021 and 2022, the 2019 and 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Pr ...

, and James Calado won the race. It was Ferrari's first overall victory at Le Mans since the

1965 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 33rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1965. It was also the twelfth round of the World Sportscar Championship. After the disappointing results of the previous year's race, Ford retu ...

, ending the streak of five victories by

Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) is a motorsport division of the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. Alongside competition activities, the division develops technologies for the Gazoo Racing (GR) sub-brand of Toyota's sports and performance-oriented pro ...

. At the

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans The 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans () was an Endurance racing (motorsport), automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each racing Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Group GT3, Le Mans Grand Touring Car (LMGT3) cars held from 15 to 16 June 2024 ...

, Ferrari achieved its eleventh victory, second consecutive at Le Mans, with the No. 50 499P driven by

Antonio Fuoco Antonio Fuoco (born 20 May 1996) is an Italian racing driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Ferrari AF Corse in the Ferrari 499P. He also serves as a development driver for the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One ...

, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, while the No. 51 499P driven by

, James Calado, and

, winner of the previous edition, came in third place. The

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans The 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans () was an automobile endurance event on 14–15 June 2025 at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. It was the 93rd running of the 24-hour race organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and the fourth roun ...

saw the number 83 car, operated by

AF Corse AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Chal ...

and driven by

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...

, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson, take the Ferrari brand to a third consecutive Le Mans victory, with the number 51 car finishing in third and the number 50 car finishing fourth.

Specifications

The 499P was designed under the

regulations, therefore it does not feature the standardised parts such as the ones found in cars designed to the

Le Mans Daytona h LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) is a set of sports prototype regulations used alongside Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) in both the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championsh ...

regulations, which the 499P races against. However, the chassis is still manufactured by

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

. The aerodynamics of the 499P were developed in conjunction with Ferrari's Styling Centre, headed by Flavio Manzoni, under Ferdinando Cannizzo, head of Ferrari's sports car engineering department. The car's

twin-turbo Twin-turbo is a type of turbo layout in which two turbochargers are used to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case of a direct-injection engine). The most common layout features two identical or mirrored turbochargers in ...

charged

V6 engine A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders and cylinder blocks share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, ...

architecture is shared with the Ferrari 296 and its

Group GT3 Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various au ...

counterpart, the 296 GT3. However, instead of being mounted to the subframe as in the road-going vehicle, the engine is a fully stressed member in the 499P, and has had various modifications to accommodate its new role as a stress-bearing member. The 499P has semi-permanent

all-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. Types The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflects one axle with ...

, with an electric motor situated at the front axle, providing above (as stipulated by the regulations), and is connected to a bespoke 900 V battery pack, with the ability to be recharged by Ferrari's own Energy Recovery System (ERS).

499P Modificata

The 499P Modificata was unveiled during the 2023 Ferrari Finali Mondiali. It is a non-competitive, unrestricted, track-only version of the 499P, made to celebrate Ferrari's victory at Le Mans that year. On 18 March 2024, the first event of the Sport Prototipi Clienti program took place at the

Mugello Circuit Mugello Circuit (in Italian language, italian: ; in English language, english: ''Mugello International Autodrome'') is a motorsport race track in Scarperia e San Piero, Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The circuit length is . It has 15 turns and a lo ...

in which the 499P Modificata took part.

Competition history

2023

The driver lineups for both cars consisted of drivers from

's programmes, the

Ferrari Driver Academy Ferrari Driver Academy is a driver development program by the Formula One team Scuderia Ferrari to promote young talent within its own organisation, with several drivers being selected and funded by the team, while under long-term contracts. Ov ...

junior team, and a reserve from

, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen formed the #50 crew, and James Calado,

, and

completed the #51 crew. The 499P was immediately competitive in its first race, with Antonio Fuoco behind the wheel of the #50 car scoring pole position ahead of both GR010 Hybrid entries from defending champions

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

. Mistakes in the race caused the #50 to fall from the lead however it would manage to take home a podium in 3rd two laps down on the leading Toyotas, whereas the #51 finished 11 laps down. Its first major race victory came at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning with Calado, Giovinazzi, and Pier Guidi, marking Ferrari's first win at Le Mans since

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

. The 499P would podium in every race except at Fuji, resulting in Ferrari finishing second in the Manufacturers' Championship.

2024

Ferrari maintained their lineup for both cars in 2024. AF Corse also entered a non-factory car that year, bringing in

Robert Shwartzman Robert Mikhailovich Shwartzman (, ; ; born 16 September 1999) is a Russian and Israeli racing driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 83 Chevrolet for Prema Racing. Shwartzman previously competed in the FIA Formula 2 Champi ...

, and Yifei Ye to drive the #83 car. The 499P took home two wins that year, going back to back at the

with

, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 car, and at the 2024 Lone Star Le Mans with the non-factory #83 car. In both races, the winning 499P narrowly scored its wins holding off Toyota's chasing #7 car. Despite taking home more wins, the car scored less podiums overall, as

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

grew more competitive and became a title contender with their

963 Year 963 (Roman numerals, CMLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 15 – Emperor Romanos II dies at age 39, probably of poison administered by his wife, Emp ...

, fighting Ferrari and Toyota at the front for both championships. Ferrari finished the season third in the Manufacturers' Championship, behind Porsche and Toyota.

2025

In the opening race of the 2025 season, the 2025 Qatar Airways Qatar 1812km, Ferrari achieved a historic triple podium, following pole position for

in the #51 car, with

, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen winning the race in the #50 Ferrari, followed by the #83 Ferrari 499P in second and the #51 Ferrari 499P in third. In the second race of the season, the

2025 6 Hours of Imola The 2025 6 Hours of Imola was an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Sports car racing, sportscar racing event, held between 18 and 20 April 2025, as the second of eight rounds of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the third ...

, the #51 Ferrari 499P took pole position with

, and the victory was again achieved by the #51 Ferrari 499P driven by

, James Calado and

, while the fastest lap was achieved by

with the #50 Ferrari 499P. Unfortunately, the race of the #50 Ferrari 499P was affected by the cancellation of Antonio Fuoco's qualifying time due to track limits and by a contact during the race in an overtaking attempt with the #8

Toyota GR010 Hybrid The Toyota GR010 Hybrid is a sports prototype Auto racing, racing car developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe for the 2021 Le Mans Hypercar rules in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is the successor of the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, which ...

driven by

Sébastien Buemi Sébastien Olivier Humbert Buemi (; born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota and in Formula E for Envision. In formula racing, Buemi competed in Formula One from to , and w ...

which resulted in the car going off the track and suffering a puncture in the rear tyre of the #50 Ferrari 499P driven by Antonio Fuoco. After returning to the pits and changing the punctured tyre, the #50 Ferrari finished the race in 15th place. On 9 May 2025, at the 2025 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the #50 Ferrari 499P driven by

achieved the Hyperpole, while the following day of the race, the #51 Ferrari 499P driven by James Calado,

and

achieved the victory while the #50 Ferrari 499P achieved the second place. A very important victory that guarantees Ferrari, the record of overall victories at the

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps) is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. History The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races f ...

in the endurance championship, with 11 victories surpassing Porsche. Furthermore, the #51 Ferrari 499P also achieved the

fastest lap In motorsports, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. In some racing series, like NASCAR, the fastest lap award championship points for a driver or team. In Formula One and MotoGP no point is awarded for the fastest lap. Formula O ...

. Ferrari completed a hat trick of

victories with the 499P at the

when the #83 customer

car took victory with

, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson at the wheel. Kubica and Ye became the first Le Mans winners from their respective countries,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The factory Ferraris finished 3rd and 4th, however the 4th-place finishing #50 was later disqualified due to a technical infringement.

Racing results

Complete World Endurance Championship results

(key) Races in bold indicates

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

. Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap. ↓ penalized from 2nd to 14th position. * season in progress

Gallery

File:2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P No.50 (DSC06009).jpg, Ferrari 499P No.50 at Spa-Francorchamps File:2023 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P No.51 (DSC07093).jpg, Ferrari 499P No.51 at Spa-Francorchamps File:2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps AF Corse Ferrari 499P No.83 (DSC04688).jpg, Ferrari 499P No.83 at Spa-Francorchamps File:Ferrari 1-2-3 in Lone Star Le Mans.jpg, A Ferrari 1-2-3 at the start of the Lone Star Le Mans in Austin, Texas, 2024. File:51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Lone Star Le Mans.jpg File:83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P Lone Star Le Mans.jpg File:2023 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P No.50 (DSC09253).jpg File:Ferrari 499P (53048549020).jpg File:Ferrari 499P (53048349919).jpg

References

External links

* {{WEC cars 2025 Cars introduced in 2022 499P Le Mans Hypercars 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Sports prototypes Rear mid-engine, all-wheel-drive vehicles Le Mans winning cars