James Calado (GBR) / Alessandro Pier Guidi (ITA) / Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA) #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
02.03.2024. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 1, Doha 1812 KM, Doha, Qatar, Saturday.
– www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Italian Antonio Fuoco, from Ferrari, described the Italian manufacturer’s race in Qatar as ‘not positive’, while teammate James Calado called it ‘challenging’, in a tough competition for the scarlet red cars.
Ferrari’s #50 car finished eighth on track – seventh with the disqualification of the #93 Peugeot 9X8 car – while the #51 car ended up in a disappointing 13th place, outside the points.
“The first race of the year didn’t go as planned,” said Fuoco from Ferrari #50.
“We need to improve, as we made a lot of mistakes today. Our goal now is to come back even stronger. We are already looking ahead to the next race in Imola, where we hope to showcase our skills once again.”
Miguel Molina, who started the race, took the lead early on, ahead of Michael Christensen in the Porsche #5 and Nico Muller in the Peugeot #93. However, Muller eventually passed Molina just before the start of pitstops.
Molina, hoping to gain an advantage, made his pitstop earlier than his competitors, but accidentally crossed the white line at the pit entry, resulting in a drive-through penalty.
From that point on, the car lacked the necessary speed to challenge the Peugeot and the four factory Penske Porsches and JOTA team, finishing in seventh place.
Meanwhile, Ferrari #51 was among the top 10, but during the second hour, the rear bodywork came loose after colliding with a United Autosports McLaren LMGT3. Alessandro Pier Guidi, who was driving at that time, made a pitstop to replace the bodywork, but the car lost two laps in the process and couldn’t recover the lost time.
“We completed a challenging race in which we made some mistakes and had a bit of bad luck, to be honest,” said Calado, one of Pier Guidi’s teammates.
“But after the practice sessions and qualifying, we knew we had few chances of achieving a great result on this track. Now we are focused on the future, hoping to return to the track in Imola with different goals.”
A positive aspect for AF Corse, Ferrari’s factory team, was the impressive performance of their private customer, the 499P. The yellow car, driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman, finished fifth, the highest placed among the LMH rules Hypercars.
“The race result confirmed what we had already seen during the Prologue and simulations, which is the significant difference compared to other cars that prevented us from fighting for the podium. Despite Molina’s excellent start, we had no chance to challenge for a prominent position,” said Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari’s endurance racing car chief.
“The race was not without flaws and unfortunate incidents, but we tried to achieve the best possible result for our cars by adopting an aggressive strategy. Despite the demanding track, our tire management was commendable, as we did not experience degradation or wear even with multiple double and triple tire changes.”
© 2024
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