Strakka Racing will compete in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship with an LMP1 machine, as they have just announced. 

They will be using the S103 LMP2 they have been competing with in this year's championship as a test mule for the P1 car during its development.

To remain in racing competiton, Strakka recentley acquired a Gibson LMP2 car to race for the remainder of this 2015 season. Testing with the Gibson should start in late July ahead of the six hour endurance race at the Nürburging, the next round on the calendar, set for late August.

“Alongside this expansion and now designing our very first Strakka car in-house, we have been able to secure a car to continue to race. This is another significant step forward for Strakka Racing as it continues to grow," said team founder Nick Leventis.

They are yet to decide on the powerplant for their upcoming LMP1 car, but advances in 3D printing and additive manufacturing will be taken advantage of during the car's development.

"The 2017 LMP2 regulation changes that restrict the number of chassis manufacturers meant we had to evaluate our current business strategy and seriously look at projects that would enable us to draw on the experiences we have from our LMP2 car,” team principal Dan Walmsley said. “After evaluating all the options, the LMP1 Privateers’ category now offers the best arena to create our own car, which we will use to showcase our growing knowledge of new design and manufacturing processes to build a cost effective car in the shortest timeframe."

Leventis added, “Strakka Racing, thanks to the unstinting support from the team members, our sponsors, technical partners and also the fans that fuel our enthusiasm to race, continues to grow and launch exciting programs such as this new LMP1 car."

The last time Strakka Racing competed in LMP1 competition was back in 2013 when they raced a HPD ARX-03a in the WEC, winning the privateer class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, they withdrew from the championship after the 2013 season to concentrate on the development of their LMP2 chassis built in conjunction with Dome.

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David van den Boom is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @david__vdb.