Top NASCAR squad plots Le Mans entry
A Next Gen NASCAR running a hybrid system is set to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023. A plan has been outlined for Hendrick Motorsports to take a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 over to France next June to fill the ‘Garage 56’ grid spot reserved for an innovative machine.
The entry is still subject to the agreement of race organiser the Automobile Club de l’ouest’s selection committee, but it seems certain that NASCAR will reprise its appearance at Le Mans in 1976 with a pair of stock cars entered by Junie Donlavey and Hershel Mcgriff.
NASCAR and Chevrolet haven’t revealed the technical specification of the car, only that such details will be “announced at a later date”.
But ACO president Pierre Fillon confirmed after the launch of the project at the Supersebring WEC/IMSA double-header last week: “It has to have a hybrid system. Garage 56 is for a car dedicated to innovative technology; it needs to be something innovative.
“When Jim [France, NASCAR boss] told me there would be a new generation of car in NASCAR using a hybrid and that he had this crazy idea to enter a NASCAR in Garage 56 in 2023, I was immediately enthusiastic.”
The project will give NASCAR the chance to blood a hybrid system that will be added to the new-for-2022 Next Gen Dallara one-make chassis sooner rather than later. NASCAR president Steve Phelps stated as recently as last November that the latest generation of Cup car could incorporate hybrid technology as early as 2024, though there has been no official confirmation of the plan.
Fillon revealed that work with the FIA has already begun to ensure that the tubeframe Next Gen car fulfils the necessary crash test requirements, and outlined a desire for the car to lap at the same speed as
GTE Am machinery.