The Ligier JS P217 is a

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were cr ...

built by Onroak Automotive and named in a partnership with French racing driver

Guy Ligier Guy Camille Ligier (12 July 1930 – 23 August 2015) was a French racing driver and team owner. He maintained many varied and successful careers over the course of his life, including rugby player, butcher, racing driver and Formula One team owner ...

. The Ligier JS P217 was built to meet the 2017 FIA and

ACO ACO, AcO, or Aco may refer to: Organizations * Accountable care organization, healthcare organization characterized by a specific payment and care delivery model * Aco Records, a British 1920s record label * ACO, C.A., a Venezuelan holding compan ...

regulations for 2017 for the LMP2 category in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Interco ...

. The car also meets the regulations for the

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

’s (IMSA)

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

for the Prototype class. It is active in both these championship series as well as the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

and

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. T ...

in 2017. The prototype made its racing debut at the 2017

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

and its

debut 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 fo ...

Development

The Liger JS P217 was conceived in 2016 in preparation for the FIA and

's new regulation changes in 2017. Onroak Automotive built a brand new chassis from scratch and focused on improving the mechanics of the car from the Ligier JS P2. Onroak and technical partners focused on the air cooling of the engine radiators and brakes and cockpit air conditioning. The mechanical features of the car that were concentrated on was the implementation of a new axle, nut, and rim to lessen the time of tire changes, the efficiency of the axles, weight distribution, accessibility of mechanics at the front of the cockpit, aerodynamic efficiency, LMP1 style power steering, and a limited number of chassis pieces. The driver's comfort, space, controls accessibility, and visibility also was paid attention to as well. The car was unveiled at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has hel ...

publicly in September 2016. It also performed tests at Magny-Cours in September 2016 and

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

in November 2016 for preparation for the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Nissan Onroak DPi

A variation of the prototype, the Nissan Onroak DPi, also known as the Ligier Nissan DPi, was created for the IMSA's

Prototype class under the DPi regulations. The car was developed in partnership with Nissan and

Nismo , abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departme ...

. The powerplant of the vehicle is a 3.8 litre V6 twin-turbo engine from the Nissan GT-R GT3. Other alterations from the P217 include a large front panel and revised side panels. Onroak Automotive supplied

Tequila Patrón ESM Extreme Speed Motorsports was an American auto racing team based out of Riviera Beach, Florida. Founded by Scott Sharp and Patrón CEO Ed Brown, the team competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Tudor United SportsCar Championship, a ...

with two prototypes for the

. ESM ran the DPi until closing due to a lack of sponsorship in late 2018.

CORE Autosport CORE Autosport was an American auto racing team founded by Jon Bennett in 2010 and based out of Rock Hill, South Carolina. After claiming the IMSA Lites Championship in 2010, the team, led by team manager, Morgan Brady, made the move to compet ...

would purchase the ESM DPis and run them for the 2019 season. The program would not continue due to the retirement of team owner Jon Bennett.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

References

External links

{{WEC cars 2021 Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Ligier racing cars