French company Norma Auto Concept will be joining the ranks of LMP3 constructors after the ACO announced them as the sixth company to develop the prototypes.
Proof that the concept is working, Norma join Ginetta, Onroak, Riley Technologies, Adess, and Dome in producing the machines designed to be a step onto the prototype ladder for teams looking to go Le Mans-style racing.
Seven cars were entered into the 2015 European Le Mans Series and this year there is set to be more than 20 as teams flock to the category, and especially the Onroak built Ligier JSP3, which sees cars eligible to compete in Europe and in the Asian Le Mans Series.
For Norma, their LMP3 chassis is a development on their popular CN prototype – the M20 – which sold more than 400 examples at the start of the century. More recently they developed an LMP2 car which finished 12th in class at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Norma’s LMP3 effort (Credit: ACO/Norma)
Norbert Santos, President of Norma, said: “We are extremely delighted about the decision taken by the ACO. Since its launch we were convinced that Norma really has a place in this new category which has already been met with huge success. When the ACO took the decision to limit the number of manufacturers last year, we had already actively launched our first studies. Since then, we have not stopped and today the time and patience taken has been proven right.
“The design of the next Norma LMP3 is already very advanced. It benefits from a number of technological solutions that, I am convinced, will enable us to get the performance that we set for ourselves. And for Norma, it’s only the victories that count.”
Norma hope to have examples of the car racing before the end of this year so they can start to be raced in anger for the 2017 season.
