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Ferrari return to Le Mans looking more likely?

Statements made by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo may indicate that the Italian brand could return to a form of racing it's been absent from for 40 years - prototype racing. That's right, LMP1 could see a factory Ferrari team for the first time since 1973, if a report from ESPN F1 is to be believed.
"We have won with the 458 GTE, but I also quite like the idea of racing at Le Mans in the highest category: who knows, maybe one day we can return and win, say thanks and come home," Montezemolo said. "Maybe we should give it some consideration..."
These seemingly idle, off-hand comments might not hold much water, were rumors about Ferrari's return to prototype racing not swirling as recently as August. There's also the fact that the upcoming, 1.6-liter, turbocharged V6 being used for Formula One complies with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's own LMP1 regulations, according to ESPN. Finally, Ferrari returning to Le Mans might also explain this video of a camouflaged Ferrari LaFerrari testing a new turbocharged engine, which we showed you a few weeks back. There's a fair chance that what we're actually seeing in that video are the early stages of a new Ferrari prototype testing.

$3M Ferrari FXX K already sold out [w/videos]

When Ferrari took the wraps off its new FXX K track machine in Abu Dhabi last week, it conspicuously left out some key details. Sure, the Prancing Horse marque told us how much power it produced, and what it had done to the aero package to make it hug the track even closer than the road-going LaFerrari on which it's based – but it didn't tell us just how fast it will go, or how much it will cost. The latest reports, however, seek to fill in those blanks. According to Ferrari marketing chief Nicola Boari in speaking to Top Gear, the FXX K will lap the company's Fiorano test track in 1 minute 14 seconds. That would make it five seconds faster than the LaFerrari, a solid second ahead of the 599XX Evoluzione and two seconds faster than the original FXX. However it seems to fall short of the eight- to nine-second gap those previous XX derivatives opened up over the road-going models on which they in turn were based. So it seems, for the time being at least, that the 1:11.9 lap time recorded by the 333 SP – an open-cockpit sports prototype from the late 1990s – will remain for now the fastest car this side of an F1 racer ever to lap the circuit. The outright record stands at under 56 seconds and belongs to Michael Schumacher in the ten-cylinder F2004 he drove to his seventh and final world championship. As for the FXX K's production, Top Gear reports that Ferrari will build fewer than 40 of them, and that they've all been spoken for – at a price of ˆ2.5 million (more than $3M) apiece. If you're not one of those forty fortunate souls to have put down their deposit, your best chance to see this rare beast in its natural habitat (at least until one of the XX track days hits a race track near you) are the live images above and the handful of videos below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2016 German Grand Prix race recap: so-so racing, great questions

We can summarize the 2016 German Grand Prix in one sentence: Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton started second on the grid, passed pole-sitter and teammate Nico Rosberg before the first corner, and dominate to the finish. In fact, Hamilton turned his engine power output down on Lap 3 and still took the checkered flag seven seconds ahead of Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen crossed the line another six seconds back. Rosberg fell to fourth at the first corner and couldn't find the pace to reel in the Red Bulls. His questionable pass on Verstappen didn't help when the stewards penalized Rosberg five seconds; the overtake reminded us of Rosberg's move on teammate Hamilton in Austria. That penalty turned into eight seconds when the Mercedes-AMG Petronas stopwatch didn't work in the pits. Ferrari pilots Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth and sixth. Those six drivers all started in the top six, too. Behind them, on Lap 28 of the 67-lap race the next four drivers were Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India, and Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso in McLarens. Low fuel and old tires put the kibosh on Alonso's pace just four laps from the finish, allowing Force India's Sergio Perez to pass, rounding out the top ten. The issues up for debate during the four-week break are far more interesting than the weekend's race. As bad as Ferrari's day might have been – and we'll get to that – Rosberg probably took the biggest hit, losing the race before the first corner for the second weekend in a row and falling 19 points behind Hamilton. Rosberg won the first four races of the season, then the teammates tripped over one another in Spain. Hamilton's won six of the seven races since Spain, Rosberg's best result in that time is a second-place in Hungary. Hamilton turned his engine down on Lap 3 (!) because he's used his entire season's allotment of five turbochargers and five MGU-Ks. Those early-season gremlins now have him on edge of grid penalties. Unless Hamilton's momentum cools off in August, however, that reliability danger might be the only dent in his armor. Rosberg, who once led the Championship by 43 points, will surely drown in his thoughts – and maybe schnapps – over the summer break. Whatever the Italian word for "meditation" is, there'll be a lot of it at Ferrari during the F1 summer break.