Otherwise, the powertrain rules are open, giving manufacturers the freedom to develop the ICE and hybrid units with whatever technology they wish, resulting in some variety. To level performance with the rear-driven LMDh cars, LMH cars will be unable to deploy hybrid power below 75mph in the dry (a wet-weather speed has yet to be finalised). Entries based on road-legal hypercars must retain the hybrid layout of the original. Cars must send the power from their combustion engine to their rear wheels, but they can fit an electric motor of up to 268bhp for driving the front axle to enable four-wheel drive. The dimensions of the hypercars are set and there are controls on key bodywork areas, with development not allowed. Cars based on road-going hypercars are also allowed – although after Aston Martin canned its plan to race the Valkyrie in favour of a Formula 1 entry, none of these are in the works. The first are bespoke racing prototypes, including 2021 machines from Toyota and US low-volume specialist Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, plus future cars from Peugeot and Ferrari. The rules actually allow for two basic types of hypercar.

Le mans prototype