We race at Toyota’s home
This weekend the Endurance World Championship is taking place at the Fuji for the penultimate round of the Endurance championship before the grand finale scheduled for Bahrain at the beginning of November. A year ago, Ferrari missed the podium in Japan with both 499Ps and the goal for this edition is to aim for at least the podium to keep both world championships open. The Maranello Hypercar is fresh from its success in the 6 Hours of Austin with the #83, the customer car, the #51 that started from pole retired, but the #50 fighting for the drivers’ title came in third. Antonio Fuoco, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado are joined in the #7 Toyota at -12 from the crew of the #6 Porsche and the 6 Hours of Fuji will be crucial. In the Constructors’ standings, Toyota has an 11-point advantage over Porsche and 19 over Ferrari. For the Japanese manufacturer, winning at home would almost mean closing the game for the Constructors’ title, even if in Bahrain there will be more points up for grabs in light of the length of the race (a 9-hour race awards 38 points to the winners and 27 to the runners-up). Below are the words of Ferrari managers and drivers in view of the commitment in Japan.
Antonello Coletta: “We are back on track two weeks after the race at COTA where we took a very important victory with the 499P number 83, also finishing the 6 Hours with an excellent third place for the Hypercar number 50. A historic success for Ferrari as well as the third victory in the top class of the FIA WEC with three different cars: after the successes at Le Mans with the official 499Ps numbers 50 and 51, we managed to climb onto the top step of the podium also with the private AF Corse car, a fact we are proud of. Now we arrive at Fuji, in Japan, still fighting for the world Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles, as well as for the classification reserved for independent teams. We will therefore do our best to express the maximum potential of our 499Ps in a race in which it will be essential to reduce errors to a minimum: it will not be easy and we know the value of our opponents”.
Ferdinand Cannizzo: “After the promising performance in Austin, we have worked hard this week with the clear goal of aiming to win at Fuji too and keeping the Constructors’ World Championship open until the last race. We know that it will not be easy to achieve this result on the home circuit of our rivals who lead the standings. In 2023, the race in Japan was in fact the most difficult for the 499P, but since last year we have learned a lot about how to fully exploit the potential of our car and for this reason, while respecting the strength and speed of our rivals, we do not give up before taking to the track. Optimizing performance in different conditions and evaluating different scenarios for the strategy will be equally important in this race, where the wet and variable weather always throws up surprises”.
Alexander Pier Guidi: “The main objective at Fuji is to get as many points as possible considering that Ferrari is in the thick of the fight for the Constructors’ World Championship. It will be a complicated undertaking because I believe that the Japanese track is not particularly favourable to us. Fuji is not my favourite track, but despite this I have achieved two victories there with James in LMGTE Pro (2017 and 2022, Ed.). The weather forecast for the weekend is uncertain, and rain is expected: this will be an additional variable to consider”.
Anthony Fire: “After the third place in America, we will have to do our best in Japan because the challenge for the world championship, both Drivers and Constructors, is still open. We will be focused on a race where, as per tradition, I expect many motorsport fans who will make the weekend even more suggestive”.
James Calado: “The race at Fuji will be very important for our crew and for our teammates in the number 50 499P. The common goal will be to ensure Ferrari gets good results, which are essential for the World Championship.”
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