As we confirmed in yesterday’s United SportsCar Racing announcement, the DeltaWing racer has a guaranteed future in North American sports car racing. Eligible for competition in the Prototype class, the current open-cockpit DeltaWing (now in a bright chrome livery) will make its 2013 ALMS competition debut at this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring.

DeltaWing Racing Cars is also showing off a new version of the popular sports racer at Sebring as well. Wearing the same chrome livery as the open-top car, the all-new DeltaWing Coupe will be displayed throughout the weekend in the Austin Hatcher Foundation booth.

Expected to make its ALMS competition debut at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May, the DeltaWing Coupe is designed to comply with 2014 LMP1 regulations. Its tub is a new design and the driver will get a wider cockpit than the original DeltaWing, which should make the enclosed car less claustrophobic.

The DeltaWing Coupe will get a new engine from Elan Motorsports Technologies, too. Details are lacking, but Dr. Don Panoz, managing partner of DeltaWing Racing cars, assures fans that the car will be capable of podium finishes by the end of the 2013 season.

 Unlike many other Prototype-class cars, the DeltaWing Coupe’s driver will sit in the center of the cockpit, which is expected to aid both safety and driver visibility. Keeping the driver on the car’s centerline should help optimize handling balance, too.

Following Nissan’s departure from the DeltaWing project, Elan Motorsports Technologies has stepped in as the car’s title sponsor. When the open-air DeltaWing racer debuts this weekend, it will benefit from an all-new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, said to be good for some 345 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque.

What’s your take? Will the DeltaWing Coupe prove to be the future of sports car prototype racing, or will it end up as just another footnote to motorsports history?