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Riley Planning LMP3 Car for 2015

Riley Technologies designing new prototype for new-for-2015 LMP3 class…

Photo: Riley Technologies

Photo: Riley Technologies (Mk XXII track day car)

Another manufacturer has thrown its hat into the ACO’s new junior prototype platform for 2015.

Sportscar365 has learned that Riley Technologies is planning an all-new prototype for the LMP3 class. The car, designated as the Riley Mk XXX, is currently in the design phase by the multiple championship-winning constructor.

“Bob [Riley] is directing the design back at the shop on all of the concepts for the LMP3,” Riley Technologies Vice President Bill Riley told Sportscar365. “We obviously have to secure customers and so forth and we have to take the design pretty far along before doing that.”

Riley said the closed-top prototype, which would sell for no more than $200,000 per the ACO’s proposed cost-capped rules, will be a clean-sheet design with the dual purpose of being a track day car.

The Mk XXX would join its existing Chevy V8-powered Mk XXII (pictured above) as track day car offerings.

“Obviously we’ve done cars like this but the ruleset is different than DP or LMP2, so it really doesn’t fit in either of those categories. It will definitely be a clean sheet for us,” Riley said.

“It’s going to be a dynamite car. I think it’s going to be a great car for track use in the U.S. also because it will be pretty quick and very safe.”

While manufacturers have been given a draft rulebook for the new platform, the ACO has yet to finalize the regulations for the new class, which will be used in the European and Asian Le Mans Series beginning next year.

It’s also unclear whether the platform will have an immediate presence in North America. All LMP3 cars will run with a spec production engine, with further details on the class expected to be announced from the ACO in the next month.

“We’d have to find out what IMSA’s plans are for it in the U.S. but I think you could probably see [the Mk XXX] coming out within 9 to 12 months if we got a customer and sold enough of them,” Riley added. “We’d have to sell a few of them before we’d pull the trigger on it.”

Riley joins ORECA, Onroak Automotive, Wolf Racing Cars and Sora Composites that have all either expressed interest or are planning to jump into the new platform.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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