So let’s always put the name ‘Le Mans’ somewhere, the Ferrari drivers must have thought at the end of the race after the fantastic and historic triumph obtained by AF Corse in Austin.
For the first time, the Ferrari 499P has won a race outside the French 24 Hours, but curiously enough, the 6 Hours held at the Circuit Of The Americas was actually called Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth act of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship which provided endless thrills.
Here too, the final laps were crucial and heart-stopping for the Prancing Horse’s standard-bearers, with the yellow Hypercar #83, privately managed by the Piacenza team, initially appearing to be flying towards triumph, having been able to manage the situation, but then seeing itself overtaken and overtaken by the Toyota #7, which however paid a penalty, returning to second place and therefore with blood in its eyes aiming for recovery.
In the end, the winners were Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, all things considered, deservedly so, on a day to remember that saw them race without making any mistakes, attacking when necessary (Kubica at the start), managing the middle phase very well (Ye) and then closing the gap at the end (Shwartzman) in a true all-round team effort, spiced up by some smart choices in the pits.
In addition to the overall triumph, the team also took second place in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams standings reserved for private teams in the Premier Class, collecting their fifth podium of the season which, thanks to the bad day for Jota, projects AF Corse to -30 from the English #12 team with two events to go.
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye
Photo by: Ferrari
“We went for a slightly different strategy with the tyres. I think that gave us a better understanding of what we could do in the last part of the race, also for Yifei and Robert, and I think it was the right choice; I was sure it would work and it did,” Kubica said of the decision to fit three medium compound tyres and a hard right rear, explaining why Antonio Giovinazzi’s #51 499P gave way to him in the lead in the first hour.
“I think we had a good pace and at least on my side we were managing the tyres. The key point was a small tyre issue in the first stint. So we had to react and that’s why I got ahead of Antonio. I had to push and try to solve it, and I did it. Then we had to change the tyre strategy and obviously in the second stint there was a lot of discussion about what to do, what was the best option and so on.”
“I always try to give my ideas, it’s never easy, because once you have your plan and everything is going in the right direction, suddenly things get mixed up. We went for a very safe strategy with Yifei with four hard ones, which, pace-wise, we knew was probably not the best way, but the safest way to get us back in a good position for the end of the race as a strategy.”
“It looked pretty easy from the outside, but I have to say that in my second stint, I think I was on the radio for 15 minutes. We always try to do our best for our teammates, and this was definitely a big team effort. After Le Mans, where we felt like the win had slipped away from us because we retired, this is special, and it was a tough race.”
#83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar of Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye
Photo by: JEP
Ye added: “Because of the initial issue, I had to manage the double stint, which was a challenge. But fortunately, before I got in the car, Robert had put the car in a good position with a decent gap to the one behind. I knew that, with the tyre strategy we had adopted, the others would catch up.”
“So the challenge for me was to manage the pace over the double stint and make sure we could stay in a good position to allow Shwartzman to push for the win.”
“Our car worked very well today, although I would say that probably others had an advantage in the race stint, but I think in the end today we did well without making any mistakes and I was able to hand the car over to Robert in the lead.”
“Shwartzman ultimately did a great job to bring the team back to victory. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done, I can’t describe what I’m feeling, we finally got our revenge after the unfortunate Le Mans: this success repays us for so much effort and gives us confidence ahead of the last two races of the season.”
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Shwartzman was also beaming: “I am very happy, today we have written a page of history for Ferrari and for our team. When I came out of the pits, Toyota managed to pass us and let’s say that their pace was very strong, so I tried to stay as close as possible. Halfway through the first stint they told me to continue like this because perhaps they had committed an infringement and a penalty could have come”.
“I did my best, I knew that if there was even a slight chance of a Drive Through, they would be left behind. In the end they got the penalty and in the second stint the only goal I had was to keep the car on the track.”
“It was really difficult, especially in the last laps, when I started to lose grip. The car was quite complicated to drive and was sliding a lot, Toyota was a really tough opponent and put a lot of pressure on us.”
“I’m happy that in the end the result was good and that we finally got the victory, I want to thank the whole team that did an exceptional job and my teammates who were really strong. After the retirement at Le Mans, where we were protagonists for a long time, I was waiting for a happy moment like this: when I got on the podium I felt a unique emotion”.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
AF Corse’s super performance keeps Ferrari smiling, especially as it hasn’t been an easy day for the official 499Ps. After a great Hyperpole, Antonio Giovinazzi kept the #51 in the lead before handing the lead over to Kubica for strategic reasons.
The Apulian, however, had contact with an LMGT3, first receiving a penalty and then suffering a failure on a rim and a transmission component that sent him into a spin and unable to restart, having to sadly retire without being able to hand over the wheel to his teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, who are forced to raise the white flag for the first time since 2016.
“The success of the 499P #83 and the third place of the #50 are great results for which I congratulate the entire team. Unfortunately, we had a problem with our car that forced us to retire,” regrets Giovinazzi.
“It’s a real shame because up until that point we had had a great weekend, even winning the Hyperpole. Now we look to Fuji where in two weeks we will have the opportunity to make up for it with our crew and we will return to the track to prove ourselves competitive again”.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Ferrari
A great start by Miguel Molina instead brought the 499P #50 to third place in the opening laps, which held that position until the end, although it was unable to stay close to the leading pair despite the efforts of Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco, who took home a very precious podium in terms of the drivers’ championship, occupying second place on a par with the #7 Toyota boys and 12 points behind the leading #6 Porsche.
“We achieved a third place that leaves us with some regret, because as always we were aiming for the best result, but it allows us to gain important points for the standings”, admits Nielsen.
“Now we look forward to the next race at Fuji in two weeks’ time: the Japanese track is perhaps not the one that suits our 499P the least, but we will give our all to keep the world championship challenge open.”
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye, #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Ferrari
In the Constructors’ standings, Ferrari remains third at -19 from Toyota, the new leader ahead of Porsche with a +11. But the joy for the triumph of the 499P #83 must be highlighted as a priority, as explained by the Boss, Antonello Coletta.
“A great day for Ferrari, which after its victory in Monza in F1 also managed to win in the FIA WEC on the same day. We are really satisfied to have obtained the third success for the Prancing Horse, after the two fantastic ones at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year and in 2023, and the first valid for the overall classification of the AF Corse customer team”, he says.
“Congratulations to the whole team and the three drivers who were able to defend themselves from Toyota, no easy feat: Kubica’s start, Ye’s central phase and Shwartzman’s grand finale are worth framing. We leave Austin with a smile also for the excellent third place of the 499P #50 with Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen”.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Cars at Maranello, said: “This is an exceptional day for Ferrari with two victories in two world championships. We are all very happy to have managed to put two Prancing Horse cars on the podium and one on the top step here at COTA.”
“As we had expected, it was a tough race that we interpreted correctly, extracting the maximum performance from the car in every situation. However, there is still a lot to do to completely close the gap to our opponents: this will be our goal starting tomorrow. There is only one great regret for the retirement of the 499P #51 due to a mechanical failure following contact with a GT car”.
#WEC #FerrariAF #team #triumph #Mans #avenged
