The Ferrari 499Ps return to the scene for the last act of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, scheduled on the Sakhir circuit. The race will start at 12pm on Saturday 4 November.
55 days after the previous round in Fuji, Japan, which ended with a fourth and fifth place respectively for the Hypercars number 50 and 51, the Ferrari – AF Corse team returns to the spotlight in the seventh round of the World Endurance Championship in a proof that will be decisive for the awarding of the Drivers’ title.
The race offers a total of 39 points, 38 for victory in the race and one point for pole position. Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, third in the standings, arrive in Bahrain with a gap of 31 points compared to the leaders of the ranking; five points further back, in fourth position, are teammates Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.
Both the crew of the 499P number 51 and that of number 50 are therefore mathematically in the running for the Drivers’ award in the Hypercar class, although the undertaking promises to be not an easy one on the eve of the trip to the Persian Gulf.
Photo by: Francesco Corghi
Ferrari Hypercar drivers’ press conference
Antonio Fuoco: “The 8 Hours of Bahrain will certainly be a difficult race considering the conditions we will encounter, starting from the high temperatures. I don’t think we will have an advantage over our competitors on this track, considering the layout of the track. We will try to do our best our best to conclude in the best possible way a season which I consider to be overall positive for our team.”
“Sakhir is a facility where Ferrari has achieved great results in recent years with the 488 GTE: I remember with great satisfaction the victory in 2022 when with Miguel I crossed the finish line first in the last race of the LMGTE PRO class.”
Miguel Molina: “Last one of the year, we go to Bahrain with the expectations of every race, of fighting for the podium, we still have a minimal chance of winning the championship, we are aware that it is very difficult, but until the race is over we cannot we will give up. This will be our approach, characterized by maximum concentration.”
“The track? I really like it, both in terms of the track and the atmosphere of the race which takes place partly at night. In Bahrain with the Ferrari 488 GTE I was always very fast and also during the test we conducted we have had positive feedback with the 499P in recent weeks.”
Nicklas Nielsen: “Personally I’m looking forward to competing in the last round of the season with the aim of achieving a good result, although I believe this will be a difficult race for us, as the 6 Hours of Fuji was. In any case, we still have some chances to win the Drivers’ championship, which is why we will get into the cockpit of our 499P with the utmost determination to finish the championship in the best possible way.”
Photo by: Andy Chan
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Alessandro Pier Guidi: “In Bahrain over the years I have gained a lot of satisfaction, so much so that I consider it a ‘friendly’ track, where I celebrated the Drivers’ world title three times with the Ferrari 488 GTE and where we obtained the same number of Manufacturers’ laurels.”
“The memories are full of good moments, but we have to be realistic: after Le Mans we struggled to be able to express ourselves at our best level, so on the eve of this race, to hope for a great result we will also have to count on a bit of luck. In any case, I believe this 2023 season has been beyond my wildest expectations, so much so that I would have signed for a year like this before it started.
James Calado: “I think that the first objective of this race will be to secure third place in the Drivers’ standings, aware that it could be a complex race for us. We are leaving for this trip, in any case, with the ambition of finishing in the best possible way a positive year for our entire team, in which the result we achieved at Le Mans shines.”
Antonio Giovinazzi: “I really like the Sakhir track, but the last round of the season will not be easy at all. Eight hours is a long time and the heat factor, considering the temperatures reached in Bahrain, could influence the result”.
“We will have to be very concentrated and avoid any mistakes to find ourselves in a good position in the final phase of the race, to try to obtain a good result at the finish line. For us it will be the conclusion of a fantastic year, in which the result entered into the history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Antonello Coletta (Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti): “We approach this 8 Hours of Bahrain like every FIA WEC race with the aim of giving our all to obtain the best possible result. Considering the recent races at Fuji and Monza, however , the ambitions for this last round are not the best.”
“We are approaching the end of a season that I undoubtedly consider positive, characterized by a great start sealed by the pole position at Sebring and five podiums in the first races of the year up to the astonishing victory at Le Mans. Unfortunately we are finishing with greater difficulty, but we are aware that our potential is different.”
Ferdinando Cannizzo (Head of Endurance Race Cars): “In Bahrain we contest the last race of this first year of the 499P. A very positive season which saw our Hypercar show good competitiveness, right from the first race, and equally good reliability” .
“Over the last two weeks we have therefore worked intensely to finish the 8 Hours with a good performance. We are also aware that it will be a very close race, given the performances of the other competitors, and that getting on the podium will be very difficult.”
“As always, we will not give up and, although it will be an almost impossible task, we will try to put our drivers in a position to fight for the Drivers’ championship which is still mathematically open.”
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