Earlier this year, a Ferrari 499P went out and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans to give the brand its first win in the race since 1965. Back then, customers could buy spectacular Ferraris like the 250 GTO directly from the Scuderia. While just about everything else about the automotive world has changed since, Ferrari apparently sees some value in that tradition. That means it will sell the 499P Modificata, a variant of the 499P Le Mans Hypercar available to customers.
That does not mean customers in the racing sense, either. This is not a car for privateers looking to race a Ferrari—this is a car for people looking to purchase a 499P of their own as the ultimate track-day car.
Unlike the presumably canceled Toyota GR Super Sport or the Aston Martin Valkyrie that is moving to the Hypercar class in 2025, the 499P Modificata is also not a road car. This is a pure track car, one free of the restrictions that come with racing to a ruleset. That makes the 499P Modificata something like the 919 Evo to the 499P’s Porsche 919 Hybrid. While this car is not quite as extreme as the Porsche—the 919 Evo had over 1000 horsepower and active aerodynamics—freedom from regulation allows for Ferrari to make the car more powerful and make more direct use of its hybrid assistance.
The resulting car has 697 horsepower, four-wheel drive that can be activated well below the FIA-regulated 118 mph, and specially designed Pirelli tires. The hybrid powertrain’s power is also deployed differently, available at the push of a button to bring total output to a peak of 858 horsepower. Far past the standards of performance you might find in even the most extreme road cars, that puts the 499P Modificata in league only with the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and Bugatti Bolide.
While both of those cars are not far from Le Mans Hypercars themselves, the Ferrari actually is one. Add in a complicated hybrid system and that makes it a fairly difficult car to run for private owners, so Ferrari has introduced the Sport Prototipi Clienti program to provide direct support. In a system similar to its F1 Clienti program for owners of historic F1 cars, 499P Modificata owners will have their car both maintained and supported by Ferrari itself. That allows the company to make a more complex and modern track car, in this case the only one in its ultra-exclusive segment that actually utilizes a hybrid setup to provide power to all four wheels. Going forward, it also means Ferrari will already have a structure in place to support projects of similar ambition.
Ferrari has not announced a price for the 499P Modificata. With no other prototype racer from a major manufacturer on sale today, comparison points can be hard to find. The closest thing may be a ready-to-race Porsche 963, which comes in at $3 million for customer race teams. As the Ferrari was developed for even more complicated regulations, expect a high number.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
