Garforth, Leeds based Ginetta Cars have launched their 2018 privateer LMP1 chassis with the Ginetta G60-LT-P1 been unveiled for the very first time today at the Autosport International Show, located at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.
The chassis revealed is in the livery of TRS Racing Manor. A joint effort between Manor Endurance Racing and Chinese company Talent Racing Sports. (TRS) TRS Racing Manor is set to take part in the full, eight race 2018/ 2019 FIA World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24 Hours in both 2018 and 2019.
The G60-LT-P1 was unveiled by Ginetta Chairman, Lawrence Tomlinson, Ginetta Technical Director, Ewan Baldry, Manor Endurance Racing Sporting Director, Graeme Lowdon, Chairman of TRS, Zhang Yi and Vice President of TRS, Li Qiao and will be on display at the Autosport International Show throughout the weekend.
Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman of Ginetta, said: The LMP1 will be a strong contender in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and at Le Mans. We have a great team of Design Engineers in Leeds, have worked with some excellent partners on the project, and can’t wait to show you what the LMP1 is made of out on track.”
Even with the exit of the manufacturers, LMP1 cars are still ugly. When is the next rules re-write coming for this series?
2020 but I’m not sure at this point whether the style of the cars will be very different, that depends on what direction the ACO chose to go next. Is a very good chance it will just continue in this style of prototype.
They are aiming to build 10 chassis and for 2 teams, no concrete information yet regarding its power train but it will not be a hybrid, some are saying it will be a 650 BHP 3.4L V6 Mecachrome engine. They will use parts from Williams AE, Xtrac, Ohlins, ARS, AP racing, Megaline, and Bosch.
Yeah 10 chassis is the aim, some of those are spares though. At present is only the one Manor entrant confirmed and two additional cars destined for an as-yet to be named team, so I would be surprised if we saw more than three cars in WEC from Ginetta this year. Regarding the engine, it won’t be hybrid and the V6 Mecachrome is confirmed as an option for Ginetta customers in a deal between the two companies. However that is one option, teams do not have to run the mecachrome unit. They can run whatever powertrains are available for them.… Read more »
As far as I understand, we should see between 9 and 11 LMP1 cars on the grid for the WEC 2018-2019 season.
1x Ginetta G60 for Manor TRS
2x SMP BR1 AER’s for SMP Racing
1x SMP BR1 Gibson for DragonSpeed
2x Rebellion (Chassis + engines TBC)
1x Kolles CLM.
2x Toyota TSO Hybrids.
Team TBC – 2x Ginetta G60s.
Hi Tom,
How does that number compared with the 2017 season LMP1 field?
Hi, If all 11 do show up it would be 5/6 more cars than 2017. Kolles didn’t run the whole season in 2017. The thing is though, with Porsche’s withdrawal at the end of 2017, It did look like LMP1 may be heading for extinction for 2018 as it would have left 2018 with two Toyotas if they’d chosen to continue and a privateer Kolles if it had chosen to return. So for the WEC to go from that to Toyota committing to stay and 7 privateers scheduled, potentially 9 on the grid in 2018. It is a great turn… Read more »
Had the pleasure of seeing this car in person on Saturday on display, shared a few more pictures of it from different angles here if anyone wants to see them – https://photos.app.goo.gl/X8HrMQQffaZTONPq1