The sister company of the Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing, which also developed the road car Aston Martin Valkyrie, has teamed up with Oreca to successfully provide the branded chassis for the new category of hydrogen-powered prototypes fuel cells.
The first task of the British and French companies is to “prepare and provide a detailed feasibility study for the vehicle concept”, according to a message from the Le Mans organizer Automobile Club de l’Ouest.
RBAT CEO Christian Horner said: “I am delighted that Red Bull Advanced Technologies has been selected by the ACO together with our partner Oreca to develop the concept of a hydrogen-powered endurance racing car for Le Mans.
“RBAT is well qualified to take on the ACO’s challenge as it has access to many of the tools used to design and develop the Red Bull Racing F1 car, along with extensive experience with other state-of-the-art vehicle programs.
“The hydrogen class at Le Mans offers an exciting outlook into the future of sustainable motorsport and promises both to advance the use of hydrogen in traffic and to deliver exciting races.”
Oreca boss Hugues de Chaunac added: “Oreca enjoys challenges and breakthroughs and we can develop our talents to the full in such an exciting company.”
ACO President Pierre Fillon was confident that the involvement of RBAT and Oreca, who is also one of the four designers licensed to manufacture LMP2 chassis, “will generate even more interest from automakers, especially those who who regularly contribute to our hydrogen working group “.
RBAT and Oreca are joining Plastic Optimum, which has already been announced as the supplier of the fuel tanks for the new class.
An announcement is expected shortly regarding the powertrains of the new cars.
It is currently unclear whether manufacturers can develop their own fuel cell technology or have to use a common drive train.
For the past three years, the ACO has been working towards the new class under the Mission H24 banner in collaboration with the GreenGT organization.
The initiative started during the European Le Mans Series in Spa in September 2018 with the demonstration of the LMPH2G prototype based on an ADESS LMP3 car with a fuel cell that supplies four electric motors with electricity.
The car was then demonstrated on the entire Le Mans circuit during the 24-hour week in 2019 and later in the same year it took part in free practice for a Le Mans Cup event on the ELMS bill in Spa.
A new version of the mobile test bench, also based on the ADESS-P3 design, was shown at last year’s catch-up date at the FIA World Endurance Championship in Le Mans in September.
The car will eventually compete in a data collection exercise for the new class at ACO-sanctioned events.
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