WEC | First Ferrari joy 296: “We fought, well deserved”

Ferrari’s trip to Japan wasn’t just a disappointing one, as the 6 Hours of Fuji also saw the new 296 secure its first win in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship.

As happened on Saturday in qualifying, the greatest satisfaction for Maranello came from the LMGT3 class, where the #54 of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Davide Rigon won, taking home a win for the first time in the new World Championship category.

The AF Corse trio fought tooth and nail to climb back up the order, as Castellacci started from ninth place on the grid and immediately made his way through a very aggressive group that saw the standings reshuffled several times, between neutralizations and penalties.

Flohr made no mistakes in his central stint, but Rigon was the real architect of the success in the last two hours, when with a series of overtakings and fast laps he put his opponents in line over and over again, crossing the finish line first. A number, #54, which curiously also symbolizes the 54th triumph for a Ferrari in the WEC GT from 2012 to today, with the Land of the Rising Sun being the land of conquest for the third time for the Flohr-Castellacci duo, while the second for the Venetian.

“I’m really happy with this victory, we deserved it. We felt ready for a good result on the eve of this weekend and in the end it arrived thanks to a great job by the team, which I have to thank”, said a beaming Rigon.

“Excellent tyre management and strategy until the end, it wasn’t easy because the BMWs were very fast and had changed tyres, but I made some good overtaking moves and the car did the rest, it was very balanced thanks to the excellent work of the engineers and technicians.”

“Great effort from all of us, in the end I enjoyed the battles with the opponents and I always pushed to the limit. Congratulations also to Thomas and Francesco for the excellent work”.

Flohr added: “Fuji is a circuit I really like and the passion of the local crowd is a strong motivation. It has been a difficult season so far, with a lot of bad luck. But one of the strengths of the team is the ability to react to difficulties and we did it here at Fuji, with an incredible job from everyone to bring home this victory.”

“I knew that doing a double stint here would not be easy for me, but it was fundamental for the race strategy, so I completed it paying attention to tyre management which is very important here. Maybe next year we can run the whole season on this track, it’s ours!”

Castellacci also smiles: “It’s a really important victory for us, after we couldn’t even line up on the grid in Texas. The car here at Fuji was really competitive.”

“My goal at the start was to gain some positions and stay away from the incidents to leave the car to Thomas as far ahead as possible for his double stint, then get back in the car with new tires and put Davide in the best conditions for the finale. He literally flew, for us it’s the third victory on this lucky track”.

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera, #92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Great disappointment instead for the Ferrari #55 of François Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera, sixth at the finish line after the Frenchman started from the Hyperpole.

The lead faded away in just a few corners due to a technical problem with the ABS that forced it to return to the pits, thus slipping to the bottom of the standings, but the team did not give up and the great finale by the usual Rovera saw the 296 climb back up the ladder, not without some regret given the success of its twin.

“It was a difficult race right from the start due to the ABS problem we had, but despite this we arrived 20″ behind the winners”, highlights the rider from Varese.

“There was the potential to achieve success, as the crew of the #54 demonstrated. We hope to be equally competitive in Bahrain to finally get on the podium.”

At the top of the Prancing Horse, the great disappointment for what happened to the 499P in the HYPERCAR class finds comfort in its little sister, the 296, as underlined by the great Boss, Antonello Coletta.

“We console ourselves with the first victory in the WEC of the 296 LMGT3 thanks to a great performance by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and our Davide Rigon. A success that repays the great effort put in by the guys in Maranello and the AF Corse team to obtain this result”, were his words at the end of the day.