Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus has entered into partnerships with Team Joest and Sauber for the development for its 007 Le Mans Hypercar project.
The upstart American outfit is set to debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a pair of Hypercars, having confirmed its involvement in 2020.
Joest Racing, the illustrious German outfit that powered Porsche and later Audi to great success at Le Mans, confirmed that it has entered into a technical partnership with Podium Advanced Technologies, which is closely involved in the development of the privateer Hypercar.
“Joest Racing is glad to announce the technical partnership with Podium Advanced Technologies within the scope of the Glickenhaus Racing FIA WEC program,” it wrote. “Joest Racing will provide human resources, logistical support and the equipment necessary to attend to the demands deriving from an involvement in the World Endurance Championship.”
For Joest, it marks a return to the international sportscar scene for the first time since Multimatic took over operations of the Mazda DPi programme in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
”Announcing this technical partnership with Podium Advanced Engineering within the SCG FIA WEC Racing program is a great start into 2021 for Joest Racing,” says Jan Lange, Joest Racing Head of Projects. “Every team member is highly motivated to make this endeavour a success.”
In addition to the Joest partnership, the American outfit has been working with Swiss firm Sauber to carry out aerodynamic testing on the twin-turbo V8 Hypercar.
Glickenhaus confirmed in correspondence with MotorsportWeek.com that Sauber, which won the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans with Mercedes, has been involved with the project since the early stages.
“We’ve used Sauber for aero development from the beginning,” Glickenhaus told MotorsportWeek.com. “We recently became involved with Joest who will be helping us with WEC logistics and at Le Mans.
“Both Sauber and Joest bring years of experience and passion to our Le Mans Hypercar program and we’re proud to be associated with them.”
Debut likely delayed to Spa
The Le Mans Hypercar category is set for debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship this year, with the 2021 season kicking off with the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March.
While Toyota looks set to unveil its Hypercar on January 15 ahead of a likely debut in the opening round of the season, Glickenhaus has said that it is set to miss the opening round in Florida, instead opting to debut the 007 at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May.
“One [reason for missing Sebring] is that we think the WEC is going to cancel it, but that’s just my opinion and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Glickenhaus to Sportscar 365.
“But secondly: to race, you have to homologate. To homologate, you have to lock the car and go into the Sauber wind tunnel and confirm that the car meets the regulations. It’s in our interest to test as much as possible before we do that, and to get the car exactly where we want it.
“For us to commit to Sebring, basically they would be shipping the cars in six weeks from now. I don’t think it’s going to happen. The ACO know we’re not going to Sebring. And they’re happy with that, because they want us to have a good car to begin with.”
The delay means only Toyota would bring its Hypercar to the first race of the new season alongside the Signatech-run Alpine Endurance Team, which is bringing a grandfathered ORECA-built LMP1 chassis.
