The ACO will replace Formula Le Mans with LMP3s

THEELMS and the Asian Le Mans Series will see the arrival in 2015 of a new category called LMP3 which will replace Formula Le Mans. The ACO's objective is to reduce costs for drivers and teams in the two disciplines where LMP2 will remain the premier category. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest will reveal the characteristics of the Le Mans Prototype 3 in the coming weeks by defining a common engine-transmission unit and a single manufacturer. All manufacturers will be invited to develop a chassis. Costs will be kept to a minimum with financially accessible parts, a single engine-transmission unit for the season and a limited number of tires. The turnkey sale must not exceed €150.

This is not, however, the end of the LMPCs which are very successful in the USA and which will always be operated in the USCC. The ACO is implementing a transition period for the next two seasons of the Asian Le Mans Series. Thus, the second category of prototypes will be made up in 2014 of cars having received FIA CN homologation and equipped with a carbon chassis, while the 2015 season will allow the CNs to run alongside the LMP3s. Formula Le Mans will remain in force next year in ELMS before being definitively replaced by LMP3 in 2015.