Panoz fans, take heart. We know it's been a while since the American sports and racing car manufacturer had anything new for us, but the dry spell is about to end.

This directly from the lion's mouth, and the lion, in this case, is one Don Panoz. The motorsport and pharmaceutical mogul announced his plans at this past weekend's 12 Hours of Sebring that the sportscar-maker founded by his son Danny and which bears the family name will unveil the new Abruzzi model to the public at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this coming June.

Little is known at this point regarding what form the Abruzzi will take. Previous reports indicated that initial plans for a dedicated prototype racer were scrapped in favor of a series production sportscar, which would in turn breed a GT2 competition version. Otherwise your guess is as good as ours.

The sketch above was reportedly released by a former Panoz designer, and bears a striking resemblance to the Esperante, which the Abruzzi will either replace or join in the company's line-up. The name, meanwhile, is taken from a region in southern/central Italy that was recently ravaged by natural disaster. Hopefully the Abruzzi will bring better fortunes to Panoz. We'll be watching to find out. Thanks for the tip, Wayne!

 

looks more or less like a Corvette?