The countdown is nearly over. After half a century of sitting on the sidelines, Ferrari in March will lastly make its return to top-level endurance racing.

Ferrari will return with the 499P LMH race automotive, which is eligible for each the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the GTP class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Ferrari up to now has solely dedicated to the WEC, whose spotlight is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although the 499P might nonetheless seem at choose SportsCar Championship rounds ought to Ferrari select.

The 499P’s first official occasion is a Prologue meet operating at Florida’s Sebring Worldwide Raceway from March 11-12. The primary race on the 2023 WEC calendar, the 1000 Miles of Sebring, will observe on the identical monitor on March 17.

Ferrari will area two 499P race automobiles, with Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen in automotive quantity 50 and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi in a quantity 51 automotive.

Ferrari isn’t going it alone. It has partnered with AF Corse for the LMH marketing campaign, and the brand new workforce will probably be generally known as Ferrari-AF Corse. AF Corse has competed within the WEC’s GT lessons for a few years, utilizing Ferrari’s production-based GT race automobiles.

The 499P has been developed from the bottom up beneath LMH guidelines. It’s powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 derived from the one within the Ferrari 296 GTB supercar. The 499P pairs the engine with an electrical motor driving the entrance axle. The engine drives the rear axle, thus giving the 499P all-wheel drive. The “499” within the title is a reference to the scale of every cylinder, as measured in cubic centimeters, whereas the “P” signifies the automotive as the most recent within the line of Ferrari sports activities prototype racers.

Ferrari final competed in top-level endurance racing in 1973, pulling out after that yr to concentrate on Method 1. Its final title was within the 1972 World Sportscar Championship, a season that it dominated with its 312PB race automotive.

HIGH-RES GALLERY: 2023 Ferrari 499P LMH race automotive

This text was initially printed by Motor Authority, an editorial associate of ClassicCars.com.