The Swedish house of madness is currently considering entering the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2020. There’s just one small thing…
Following the replacement of the current top-tier endurance racing class, LMP1, with a new hypercar class in 2020, Koenigsegg has announced their interest in competing in Le Mans that year.
While their participation isn’t completely set in stone just yet, Koenigsegg is looking very closely at the new regulations — which are currently yet to be finalised — and considering their entry very seriously.
The specific part of the unfinished regulations that could present an issue for Koenigsegg is concerning drivetrain requirements. At the moment, it’s unclear whether the FIA are going to make the new hypercar class for hybridised and 4WD entrants only, or whether they’re going to allow the manufacturers to choose.
If they do decide to only allow 4WD hybrids, it would leave Koenigsegg’s Le Mans ambitions in something of a difficult situation. Given that the most likely car that Koenigsegg will be sending to Le Mans is their Agera replacement — which will be neither hybrid nor 4WD — it would leave them needing to integrate into the car a system that it was never originally designed to accommodate. Not to mention the potential homologation headache it could cause if the road car and racer were so architecturally different.
While Koenigsegg have also mentioned the Regera hybrid as a possible candidate to enter Le Mans, it’s the Agera’s replacement — due to be revealed at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show — that they’re most keen to race.
This isn’t the first time Koenigsegg have tried to compete in Le Mans. Back in 2007, they created the CCGT racing car for the 24 hour race. Based on the CCR hypercar, it weighed less than a tonne, and produced 600bhp from a 5L V8. Before it got a chance to test its potential however, the rules for the class it was designed for changed, and it was no longer able to race.
While they’ve since had the opportunity to detune an Agera to compete in the GT class at Le Mans, Christian Von Koenigsegg openly admits that the Agera wouldn’t be able to compete with the superior handling of the Porsche 911 RSR that dominates the class.
The hypercar class to be introduced in 2020 does bring with it the possibility of some extremely exciting entrants. Who knows what will be sitting on the starting grid come the next decade. Right now, we can only hope that a Koenigsegg will be amongst them.
New blogs EVERYDAY!!
Written by: Angelo Uccello
Twitter: @AngeloUccello
Tribe: Speed Machines
Facebook: Speed Machines — DriveTribe
Photo credits: Koenigsegg
Read more posts by Angelo Uccello in Speed Machines on DriveTribe the new website by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Posted in Speed Machines, a tribe lead by Angelo Uccello
Get the DriveTribe App for news, reviews, hottest videos, craziest games, toughest quizzes, and that Clarkson bloke.
