The Quarkus P3 is an aspiring Pikes Peak racer from France

French motorsport startup Quarkus will be producing an ultra-light racecar for this year’s Race to the Clouds. Called the P3, it has now been revealed in two 3D renderings.

The first mentions of the company in the media date back to 2022. At first, Quarkus had intended to produce a model named the P1 that would have a record-low curb weight of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds). It never saw the light of day. Later on, the company built a one-off racing prototype called the P2. It received a 1.0-liter engine purportedly taken from the Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike and had roughly 254 PS (250 hp / 186 kW) at the crank.

The specifications of the Quarkus P3 remain to be announced. It looks like the racer has a 1.0-liter turbo four-pot installed in a transaxle fashion, but this isn’t official yet. The whole car is expected to weigh around 600 kilos (1,320 lbs) and pump out 295 PS (291 hp / 217 kW) to the wheels.

The startup firm is receiving technical assistance from Romain Dumas, twice-champion of the Le Mans endurance race and Pikes Peak winner behind the wheel of the Volkswagen ID.R. As invested as Dumas is in the project, he won’t be driving the Quarkus P3 in this year’s race – that honor goes to another Le Mans participant, Bruce Jouanny.