Here's every manufacturer looking to race at Le Mans

We’ll forgive you if you’ve heard the news that the 24 Hours of Le Mans is getting lots of interest from car companies but are a little confused as to what is actually happening.

The flurry of releases and reports have been unrelenting in the past 12 months, with some of the biggest names in the automotive sector falling over themselves to get involved with the biggest endurance race in the world.

A lot has been happening, and it can be hard to keep track of, so we thought we’d give a top-line explanation, and simple rundown of who is who in the zoo.

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There are multiple factors at play here. Ultra-expensive LMP1 rules have been replaced by the slower but more affordable Hypercar (or LMH) ruleset in the World Endurance Championship, while the American-only DPi ruleset is evolving into what is known as LMDh (which is even cheaper than LMH) for the IMSA series.

Both LMDh and LMH will converge in 2023, allowing manufacturers multiple promotional opportunities across key markets at a relatively cheap price, with outright victories possible at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the Daytona 24 Hour and 12 Hours of Sebring.

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The low-risk, high-reward nature of the convergence has opened the flood gates for manufacturers to return in droves.

We’ve split everyone into three categories, those that are already taking part, the parties that have committed on paper but are yet to debut and those that remain officially unconfirmed but likely to make an announcement in the near future.

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Already competing

Toyota

Locked, loaded and leading the Hypercar vanguard with its GR010 Hybrid. The Toyota team won the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year comfortably, and looks to go largely unchallenged until better-funded rivals take up the mantle in coming years.

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Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus

Privately funded and without traditional manufacturer investment, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus is the wildcard of the LMH field. Performance hasn’t been strong enough to dethrone Toyota yet, but it shows initial reliability and promise. Owner James Glickenhaus is fully committed to building a road-going version of the SCG 007 despite no rulebook impetus. You’ve got to respect the commitment to cool.

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Alpine

The French sportscar manufacturer is both competing and not competing in the World Endurance Championship at the same time. Respected sportscar squad Signatech is currently running an Alpine-branded car, with the plan to entice the Renault subsidiary to sign-on for a full factory effort.

Competing under the LMH regulations with a single grandfathered Rebellion R13 LMP1 car rebadged as an Alpine A480, Alpine finished a respectable third outright at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans behind the leading Toyota pair.

The A480 looks set for another year of competition before being kicked to the curb once Alpine confirm its commitment to either LMH or LMDh regulations.

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Coming soon

Peugeot

French manufacturer returning to France’s greatest race – the story writes itself.

Peugeot is committed to returning to La Sarthe under the Hypercar regulations with its 9X8 racer (featuring a radical wingless design). Testing for the project is slated to begin by year’s end once the engine has completed bench testing and the first chassis is constructed.

A 2022 debut is what was announced, but further delays, while disappointing, can’t be ruled out.

A badge-engineered version of the 9X8 could be spun off from the program for Stellantis-sibling Dodge.

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Ferrari

We will need to wait a little longer for Ferrari’s Hypercar to appear at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the long-rumoured return is publicly confirmed.

A two-car team will spearhead the Scuderia’s return to prototype endurance racing under Hypercar regulations.

Ferrari will design and build the car, while pseudo-factory GTE team AF Corse will step up to run the cars on behalf of Maranello.

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Porsche

Next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will be a Hypercar-only affair again, but by 2023 the American interlopers will join the fray. LMDh is set to take top billing alongside LMH, with some big name factories committed. The biggest is Porsche.

It wouldn’t be a new Golden Age of endurance racing without Porsche’s involvement. Unlike Ferrari, Stuttgart is shunning Hypercar regulations for the American-led LMDh ruleset, and it’s using the biggest team in US racing to keep things ticking.

Motorsport powerhouse Penske is taking point on running both a factory World Endurance Championship and IMSA effort. Roger Penske’s involvement makes the Porsche LMDh program both a technical and political powerhouse. Any Balance of Performance shenanigans between LMDh and LMH won’t last long with these titans taking a seat at the table.

Unfortunately, there will be no mid-mounted, flat-six engine in Porsche’s LMDh racer. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is the current front-runner based on the engine found in Panamera and Cayenne models. Much like how the engine is shared across multiple production cars in the Volkswagen Group’s broad portfolio, it will also be used by other VAG brands at Le Mans.

In typical Porsche fashion the LMDh car will also be offered to customer teams with deep enough pockets.

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Audi

Speaking of other Volkswagen Group brands, the intra-boardroom rivalry between Audi and Porsche is set to be reignited in 2023.

Understandably, the Porsche and Audi programs are set to be remarkably similar with some important differences. They will share the same engine and chassis, and each will provide cars to customer teams, but Audi will only compete in WEC, with an IMSA campaign recently nixed.

The big unknown for Audi is which race team it will partner with.

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BMW

The LMDh and LMH split is most pronounced with BMW. The German manufacturer made an emphatic statement about its return to endurance racing when it announced its LMDh program using dramatic imagery of the ’99 24 Hour of Le Mans winning V12 LMR.

Thing is, BMW hasn’t yet confirmed it will be taking its LMDh program to Le Mans, having only locked in a factory IMSA campaign. That said, the brand’s return to La Sarthe remains heavily rumoured, with a semi-factory effort for two cars set to be announced imminently.

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Cadillac

The American factory-backed cat among the European pigeons will be Cadillac. Ford seems uninterested in rekindling its rivalry with Ferrari, so GM’s sub-brand Cadillac will be fighting on behalf of Uncle Sam instead.

While it hasn’t competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since a middling effort at the start of the century, the American brand is returning in 2023 to complete its unfinished business. During IMSA’s DPi era (which LMDh is based on), Cadillac won four Daytona 24 Hours in a row, a pair of championships and currently leads the 2021 standings. Expect the brand to be an outright threat from the get-go.

Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express have been named as the partner teams – the latter being a constant force in US racing that will make a trip across the Atlantic for the first time in 2023 – with Cadillac stumping up cash for fully funded efforts in both IMSA and WEC

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Honda/Acura

Much like BMW, Honda’s involvement at Le Mans is half-cocked at present. Acura currently competes in IMSA’s DPi category and is committed to LMDh. However, while it hasn’t yet locked in a Le Mans effort, the teams that field Acura prototypes in IMSA are keen to take part in the world’s biggest endurance race. A switch to Honda branding in Europe is likely but unconfirmed for now.

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Watch this space

Lamborghini

Will it, won’t it? Rumours of a Lamborghini LMDh effort have been swirling for several months and have only got stronger following VAG siblings Audi and Porsche announcing their commitment.

We asked CEO Stephan Winkelmann what was going on, and while his words were coy, the broad smile gave the game away somewhat.

“It’s a good one, because in the last few days we were looking into this. It looks interesting but there is no decision taken and even if we decide, it’s going to be some years down the road before we’d be ready for something like this. But I have to tell you, it’s interesting and we’re looking into it.”

A factory effort won’t get off the ground until 2023 at the very earliest, so we may be waiting a while for an official announcement, but platform and engine sharing with Audi and Porsche makes any potential plan an easy one to justify for the Italian manufacturer.

Customer cars will lower budgets further, and mimic the same ethos Lamborghini utilises in GT3.

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McLaren

Woking’s return to Le Mans has been long-rumoured, but ultimately movement from McLaren has been minimal. The brand’s GT3 program remains highly successful and is at a transition point as the 720S road car is replaced by the new V6 hybrid Artura.

This is proving a challenge for both its GT efforts, and any potential LMDh car is unlikely to come to fruition until 2024, with a decision deadline quickly looming by year’s end. Oreca is reported to have been commissioned with creating a concept for Woking, with customer teams expressing interest as well.

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Nissan

We’ll be frank and state from the outset that Nissan’s Le Mans return is the shakiest rumour here.

Where other efforts on this list are open secrets, Nissan’s plans remain shrouded in mystery. What is known is Nismo purchased an LMP2 car for evaluation purposes. If that will become a full factory LMDh (or more unlikely LMH) program remains unclear.

Nissan’s last Le Mans effort told a compelling story but was ultimately a performance failure. The GT-R LM program never fulfilled its many promises but was immensely innovative.

A more conventional return may do the job of offering the Japanese manufacturer redemption while simultaneously helping cover the unsightly memories.

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