Shell extends its motorsports partnership with Ferrari with the Le Mans Hypercar program
Shell has announced the extension of its partnership into the FIA World Endurance Championship with Ferrari, 50 years after they last partnered in the top endurance racing category.
Ferrari shared the news of its return to endurance racing’s top class, the Le Mans Hypercar category, two years ago and the Ferrari 499P will race for the first time at Sebring, USA, on 17 March 2023. As with the Formula 1 partnership, Shell hopes to continue the strong legacy of success with Ferrari holding to date 38 victories, nine overall, at the iconic 24h Le Mans race.
Shell’s support to the Ferrari Hypercar programme centres on the provision of Shell lubricants and coolants, critical to delivering performance, reliability, and durability at the extreme in this ultimate test of endurance. The partnership will also focus on sustainability assessing the provision of sustainable biofuels and other solutions to decarbonise the racing team’s broader operations, targeting logistics and power supply as well as other sectors in the future.
The new agreement also extends Shell’s longstanding innovation partnership to the Ferrari Challenge Series, Ferrari’s single-marque championship that has been bringing together Ferrari clients and dream cars to the world’s most famous circuits since 1993. Ultimately, the aim is to enable sustainable fuels technology transfer from track to road.
“It’s exciting to be back together in the top category of endurance racing after 50 years away,” says István Kapitány, Global Executive Vice President for Shell Mobility. “It’s truly the ultimate test ground for the quality and durability of our products and I’m delighted to be partnering across Ferrari’s entire racing activities to find new and cleaner solutions that will help decarbonise mobility as a whole.”
Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna says, “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Shell as we return to the top class of endurance racing with the Ferrari 499P in the LMH category. The collaboration between our two brands is one of the longest running in the motorsport history and we look forward to continuing the journey together as we return to Le Mans in the top class.”
