The Ligier JS P217 is a

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

built by

Onroak Automotive Ligier Automotive, formerly Onroak Automotive, is a French company which designs, manufacturers, and sells auto racing, racing cars, specifically sports prototypes for various international series. Onroak was founded in 2012 by Jacques Nicolet w ...

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 ow ...

. The Ligier JS P217 was built to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO regulations for 2017 for the LMP2 category 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 ...

. 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 (I ...

for the Prototype class. It was active in both of 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 (ALMS) 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 s ...

. The prototype made its racing debut at the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona and its

debut at the 2017 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Development

The Liger JS P217 was conceived in 2016 in preparation for the FIA and ACO's new regulation changes in 2017.

built a brand new chassis from scratch and focused on improving the mechanics of the car from the

Ligier JS P2 The Ligier JS P2 is a racing car designed and built by French manufacturer Onroak Automotive and named in partnership with French former racing driver Guy Ligier. Designed for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) regulations, it is intended as a secon ...

. 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 (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

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, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

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 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 Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

Prototype class under the

DPi DPI may refer to: Organizations * Department of Public Information, related to U.N. *Daffodil Polytechnic Institute, an educational institution of Bangladesh * Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, an educational institution of Bangladesh * Disabled Peop ...

regulations. The car was developed in partnership with

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

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 departmen ...

. 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 (ESM) 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 Championsh ...

with two prototypes for the

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

Ligier JS PX

Revealed in 2021, the Ligier JS PX is an unrestricted track-day special based on the JS P217. Seemingly an evolution of the Onroak DPi, the JS PX utilizes a 3.8 liter V6 twin-turbo engine, yet developed to 825 hp. The chassis, suspension, and transmission are identical to the P217, though Ligier optimized ABS, TC, and ECU systems using input from

Olivier Pla Olivier Pla (born 21 October 1981) is a French racing driver who competed in the Asian Le Mans Series for AF Corse. Career French Formula Campus and Formula Three Born in Toulouse, Pla started his career in 2000 in French Formula Campus befor ...

. A similarly large front panel to that of the Nissan DPi is utilized, with an extended nose and a copycat element directly under it. The PX retains single canards on each side like the P217, in place of the DPi's dual-canard setup on each side. While the enlarged cooling duct from the DPi used to cool the NISMO VR38DETT is present, the side panels see simplification in the form of removal of a turning vane. The car would be featured as the main protagonist's Le Mans entry in the 2023 film '' Gran Turismo'', complete with a racing livery with

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

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 departmen ...

sponsorship, further proving relevance to the DPi racecar.

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.

Race Victories

References

External links

* {{IMSA cars 2024 Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Ligier racing cars