WEC | Cannizzo: “Optimized an already surprising Ferrari 499P”

The first season debut of the Ferrari 499P in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship certainly satisfied everyone, both the fans and the House of the Prancing Horse.

The second place in the Constructors' World Championship, the Pole Positions and the podiums achieved which allowed the #50 of Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen to finish in third place among the drivers, but above all the splendid victory at the 24h of Le Mans by Calado/Pier Guidi/ Giovinazzi with the #51 showed results that on their debut could have been almost a dream in such a complicated category as the Hypercar.

Yet in Maranello they kept their feet firmly planted on the ground, smiling at every good performance achieved and remaining lucid by rolling up their sleeves to understand how and where to improve.

This is how during the winter months we prepared to face the new challenge of 2024, where the Reds will compete against 17 other fierce cars from the Queen's Class, starting with the 1812 Km of Qatar on 2 March.

“The first season of the 499P was decidedly surprising, from the analyzes carried out at the end of the year we saw that the reliability index was certainly among the best, probably the best of all the newcomers”, admitted Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Ferrari who Endurance races run.

“The performances were brilliant, not only on the flying lap, but above all in every highly aerodynamically efficient circuit.”

“The 2024 season will certainly be more challenging, both due to the high number of competitors, almost tripled compared to the last season, but also because the others have a year of experience behind them”.

“Our objectives do not change, we will always aim to win and we know that to achieve this we must approach the season as we always have: maximum humility and respect for our opponents, aware of the fact that to achieve success we will have to do better than last year”.

Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari Head of Endurance Race Cars

Photo by: Ferrari

At Ferrari it has always been said that before modifying the 499P by spending wildcards for new approvals it was best to extract the maximum potential, which has not yet been reached.

“During the winter months we developed the car by exploiting and optimizing the package that is currently available to us.”

“The objective is twofold: on the one hand the performance and reliability of the 499P will obviously have to be improved, but on the other to fully understand its weaknesses by intervening not only on the development, but also with structural and definitive operations”.

This year the calendar offers several new tracks, starting with Lusail and continuing with Imola, San Paolo and Austin; some of these have never even been seen before for testing, and the challenge becomes more and more intricate and interesting.

“It's difficult to make predictions about the new tracks for 2024 at the moment, also because we don't know where and how our rivals developed their cars.”

“Looking at the characteristics of the 499P, I think that Qatar and probably Austin go better with our car”.

Alessio Rovera, François Hériau, Simon Mann, Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon, Vista AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3

Photo by: AF Corse

Another new feature for 2024 is the LMGT3 Class, where the 296 makes its debut, again in the hands of AF Corse. The Prancing Horse's GT3 has a year of racing and development behind it, with some important goals already achieved, but growth is continually on the rise for it too.

“In his first debut season we won the 24h race at the Nurburgring, so the expectations are decidedly high.”

“We must not forget that in the WEC the number of competitors is high and the manufacturers involved are decidedly many, probably the largest number since 2019”.

“We know it will be difficult, but as with the 499P we have focused on optimizing the current package and we are convinced that we still have ample room for improvement, so there is the belief that the results will come.”