WEC | Rigon: “Ferrari 296 took time, now it drives well”

The Ferrari 296 GT3 is preparing to make its first appearance in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship for the 2024 season.

A year has passed since the debut in competitions for the newborn GT car of the Prancing Horse and in 12 months podiums and victories have already arrived, such as those obtained in the prestigious and very tough 24 hours of Nurburgring and Daytona.

Now it's time to compete in the debut LMGT3 class of the top endurance series and the AF Corse team is preparing as best it can to field its two cars.

At the wheel of the #54 we will see Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr at work, while on the #55 there will be François Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera, ready to do their best with the Vista Jet branded cars.

The energy is high, also because the 296 has shown enormous growth over the course of a year, as Rigon explained in the meeting with journalists organized by the WEC in which Motorsport.com took part.

“We are very motivated in view of the new season, we want to obtain the best performances with our car, which is new for the LMGT3 category. It is true that we have a year's experience behind us, so we will try to prepare ourselves as best we can” , explains the Venetian.

“Both Thomas and Francesco have trained a lot and we can't wait to start the adventure in Qatar together with Ferrari, who is doing a lot to provide us with the best car.”

Confidence is also given by the recent triumph obtained at Daytona, with a car that had a Balance of Performance similar to that of 2023, but which expressed itself significantly better than in the first outing.

“Compared to last year, we had a slightly better BoP at Daytona because there was more balance with the other cars, which were a little slower compared to 2023,” Rigon underlines.

“So for us it was the first race ever with the 296, we tried to prepare as best as possible, but we didn't manage to be perfect”.

“This year we are much more prepared and in a better way, we are very happy with the balance of the car and also with the strategies.”

“Even among us drivers we are in a better situation, the 296 requires more changes in driving style between one and the other compared to the 488. An innovation that did not allow us to be at the top straight away at the beginning and which took a year to find out how to manage it all.”

#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

In LMGT3 there will always be the BoP trying to level out the performance of the various vehicles, which among other things have increased in terms of the number of brands present, making the grid much more varied and interesting.

As happens on the Hypercar-LMDh, here too there will be a torque sensor applied to the car to monitor the power, which will guarantee correct data collection to have a more complete picture of the situation, as all drivers expect.

“I think every new manufacturer is welcome, especially in the WEC. For me it's very nice that there are so many new brands on the grid, they allow the championship to grow in level and with the new BoP all the cars will be more balanced, giving way drivers to fight more among themselves, even between Silver, Bronze and Gold/Platinum. In the end the best crew will win.”

“Thanks to the new data control system for the BoP, I am convinced that we will have a much more balanced situation between everyone, which will also be nice for the Bronze drivers because they will be able to improve race by race and be closer to each other, while having fun.”

“For us PROs it will be about finishing the job, fighting in the final hours and showing the best we can.”