Ferrari had to settle for the second row at the end of Qualifying valid for the 6h of Portimão, the second seasonal event of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
This time the 499Ps weren’t able to do much to counter the excessive power of the Toyotas, which on the Algarve circuit trimmed very heavy gaps to all their rivals, first of which were the two Prancing Horse Hypercars.
From a certain point of view there is the awareness that competing against the GR010 Hybrids is not easy at all and the AF Corse team know that being ‘first of the others’ is already an excellent result.
The fact is, however, that the fastest of the two Reds is the #50 ridden by Nicklas Nielsen, author of the third time in 1’31″596 with a gap of +1″425, while the #51 of James Calado is fourth at +1 “725.
Quite important delays on the stopwatch that lead to some disappointment on the part of the Ferraristi, even if being there will count on the race pace; in Free Practice this was an aspect that didn’t cause any major headaches and in fact the work was mainly concentrated on tomorrow’s race.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“It was a good Qualifying, from my point of view I did a good lap and I’m quite happy – explains Nielsen, who will be joined in the car by Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco – I don’t want to lie and I admit that we hoped to be a bit closer to the Toyotas, but we did everything we could and it was difficult to get more”.
“In any case, I think the car was well balanced and I also felt it was a little faster than it actually was. But tomorrow’s race will be very long and we still occupy a good position, so let’s see.”
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Calado also takes it philosophically, making mea culpa on a mistake made in the attack lap in search of the best time.
“I’d say it went well, even if I think we had more potential than we really had. Compared to Free Practice 3, there was a fair change in the balance, also due to the track conditions,” says the Englishman, who he will share the cockpit with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi.
“I suffered at high speeds, especially in turn 1 under braking I had to avoid going long and beyond the track limits; unfortunately there I lost a lot of time, I also had a small problem with the brakes losing control of the rear”.
“This happened on the flying lap, I tried to do a second one, but by then the tires were gone. I haven’t had much luck, but let’s see how things go tomorrow.”
#51 Ferrari AF Corse – Ferrari 499P – Hybrid – Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Paul Foster
There is still hope for the race pace and even the rivals are well aware of it here: “This time we worked hard and beat the Ferraris, but I think they concentrated more on the race pace and were very fast. I expect a great battle with the Reds tomorrow”, admitted poleman Brendon Hartley, aware that tomorrow’s 6h must not be taken lightly by the Toyotas.
Antonello Coletta, head of Ferrari GT Sports Activities, knows it well: “We are satisfied with the third and fourth times, which represent the best result we could aspire to today. We worked hard in view of the race, and not for qualifying, a an aspect that can also be seen from the margin with Toyota which is very important”.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, head of GT & Sports Race Cars, adds: “We are satisfied with the qualifying result. Compared to Sebring, we did not want to check the performance limits of the 499P over the flying lap but we worked in all the sessions trying to optimize the performance of the car depending on the race. We therefore knew that it would be difficult to be able to fight for pole position. Starting from the second row therefore represents a good result and bodes well for tomorrow’s race”.
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