One week after the historic triumph achieved at the 24h of Le Mans, Ferrari is rightly still celebrating the feat properly and will close the circle on Tuesday with a parade through the streets of Maranello.
The 499P #51 that won on the Circuit de la Sarthe thanks to Antonio Giovinazzi/James Calado/Alessandro Pier Guidi will parade through the streets of the Emilian village in the morning, followed by the sister car #50 of Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen showing itself to the public ready to pay homage and honor to the heroes of the French classic.
Then we will have to turn the page because on July 9th there is the 6h of Monza, the fourth stage of the FIA World Endurance Championship which will see the standard bearers of the Prancing Horse speeding along the Brianza track in front of the Rossi fans, this time not for show, but returning to real competitions and own. And here Ferrari is called upon to face what, in chronological order, is the fourth personal challenge of the first season in the Hypercar Class with the 499P, i.e. the run-up to the world title.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Ferrari
It is no secret that the agenda of the GT Sporting Activities Manager, Antonello Coletta, and his collaborators highlighted the points of a journey that began less than a year ago with the Shakedown of the LMH prototype at Fiorano, which passed through the winter months of development with a lot of km milled and arrived at the debut in the championship at Sebring.
In March, the first tick was immediately placed by obtaining Pole Position with the 499P #50 driven by Antonio Fuoco, immediately proving that the vehicle is fast on one lap. Continuing, all Ferraristi have always said that the primary objective was to gain experience with the utmost humility and concentration, trying not to be distracted by external pressures.
The second objective has become to take the podium and here it has been achieved in all four outings staged to date: third place in Sebring with the #50, which was repeated in Portimao signing the place of honor, while at Spa-Francorchamps the #51 took the third step, then triumphant at Le Mans, where the #50 had put his signature on the Pole Position.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
At this point it is logical that the fourth box to fill is that of the World Championship and Coletta said it immediately once the Sarthe race was over: “We won the 24h of Le Mans after having made the podium in the previous races. The 499P is still young and it requires experience, but for the future now we can have another dream. The 24h is a WEC race and we won it, so why not try to win the title too?”
Yeah, why not? It is right to make the attempt, aware that in any case the competition will not hold back, as the Maranello boss himself underlines: “All the other manufacturers are competitive and can be fast at various times, as demonstrated during the 24h. I am sure that the next races will be just as tough, we have to learn on each circuit”.
For its part, Ferrari can reason with pure arithmetic: for the Constructors’ classification, the 2023 FIA WEC regulation provides for the assignment of the maximum score obtained by one of the two cars entered by the Manufacturer in each race (and not both as for example it happens in Formula 1).
With the success of Le Mans, worth 50 points, the Ferrari AF Corse team set off in pursuit of the still leading Toyota with an 18 point advantage. In Monza and Fuji, being 6h races, the score scale will be 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1, while for the 9h in Bahrain it will rise to 38-27-23-18 -15-12-9-6-3-2.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi, #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Ferrari
Taking into account that there is also 1 additional point for whoever achieves Pole Position, there are 91 points available, so Coletta’s dream is not unattainable. It will certainly be difficult because the rivals will not be watching, also taking into account that after the change of Balance of Performance for Le Mans – where all in all the level of performance proved to be balanced throughout the race, at least between Ferrari and Toyota – still we don’t know what parameters will be decided for Monza-Fuji-Bahrain.
Logically, it goes without saying that Ferrari must always finish ahead of Toyota hoping to win and perhaps with some other contender to slip into the match (Cadillac and Porsche are called to strike a blow). Reiterating that everything is from a Hypercar Constructors’ World Championship perspective, because for the Drivers’ championship the recovery is more difficult as Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi have 82 points from second in the standings against the 107 of Hirakawa/Buemi/Hartley.
From its side, Ferrari knows that it can now count on a competitive and reliable vehicle, especially after the 24h transalpine race that everyone needed to confirm these two points. For now, let’s give space to the end of the post-Le Mans celebrations with the Maranelli parade, then we’ll see what the next three races have in store for us, certainly as exciting as the four just archived were.
FIA WEC 2023 – HYPERCAR MANUFACTURERS RANKING
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