The possibilities of seeing a third Ferrari 499P at the start of the FIA World Endurance Championship are slowly taking shape, even if for the moment there are no defined dedicated programs.
As he had already explained in the exclusive interview granted to Motorsport.com on the occasion of the Ferrari World Finals at Mugello, Antonello Coletta reiterated to those present at Sakhir that the times are ripe, but it will still take a little patience to put together the All.
The Manager of the Prancing Horse did not avoid questions from the journalists on site at the 8h of Bahrain – including Motorsport.com – but made it very clear what the current situation is.
Photo by: Federico Basile | AG Photo
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti
“Now we are ready to deploy a potential third 499P, we now have the knowledge to manage it; if the conditions are right, it is an option that can be evaluated, but for the moment I don’t know if it will happen in 2024 or 2025”, says Coletta , who then adds a very important detail.
“If we make the third car, it will be for the whole season, not just for Le Mans; we are not interested in having an extra car just for one race.”
“For now nothing is confirmed, however, even if, for 2024, it is a decision to be made within a couple of months; on November 26th the authorities will tell us how we will be doing with the registrations and we will see from there”.
Photo by: Shameem Fahath
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Already on the occasion of the 24h of Le Mans it emerged that a ‘customer’ 499P would have been appreciated by the sponsor Richard Mille, who in addition to appearing on the Maranello vehicles also follows the young Ferrari Competizioni GT driver, Lilou Wadoux.
However, this was only a hypothesis and the difficulties of managing a Hypercar have never been hidden by the leaders of the Prancing Horse and the AF Corse team that takes care of the #50 and #51 making their debut in the World Championship this year.
Coletta underlined that every decision will be made in collaboration with whoever wants to take care of the car, to all intents and purposes a ‘customer’ car supported by the Emilian company.
“It will probably be a customer car that we will support, but it will depend on the circumstances. If AF Corse has the budget to field it, we will support it.”
“In any case, the management of the parts related to the engine and electronics is up to us, as happens when you have a customer team.”
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
The discussion of the third 499P has arisen in recent days also due to the announcement that Wadoux herself and Robert Shwartzman will be driving the Maranello LMH prototype in the Rookie Tests.
The Ferrari driver pool has no shortage of names who have the potential to take the wheel of the Red Hypercar (Alessio Rovera is one of these, for example), but Coletta rightly prefers to clarify this point too so as not to let speculation run too wild.
“Robert and Lilou will do the Rookie Tests because they are official Ferrari drivers. It is normal for us to organize tests for them and this is part of the program. But it has nothing to do with the talk of a potential third car.”
Finally, it is reiterated that for the moment no extra commitment outside of the FIA WEC is planned: “At the moment a car is not planned for IMSA”.
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