Ferrari 499P Le Mans

Category: Ferrari 499P News

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New Driver Line Up with Third Ferrari 499P Entry for 2024

Ferrari 499P News

Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye will join Robert Kubica to form the driver lineup for AF Corse’s customer Ferrari 499P Hypercar in the FIA World Endurance Championship. 

The three drivers will pilot the #83 car in WEC’s 19-car Hypercar class, with Kubica initially confirmed when the series released its provisional seasons entry list last year.  

Shwartzman will be making his series debut and is set for his first race appearances in top-class machinery, having raced a Ferrari 296 GT3 with AF Corse in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup in 2023. 

The triumphant trio of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Giovinazzi, winners of the Le Mans 24 Hours, will once more join forces in piloting the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar under the banner of the factory AF Corse team. The companion entry, the #50 car, will be handled by the skilled lineup of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina.

He first sampled Ferrari’s LMH offering in the Bahrain rookie test in November and came out as top driver which actually came after he won the Endurance Cup season finale in Barcelona.  

 

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Ferrari 499P – Bahrain 8 Hour Race – WEC – November 2023

Ferrari 499P News

Ferrari 499P -Bahrain 8 Hours Race - (WEC) 4th November 2023

The Ferrari 499Ps lined up at the start in fifth and sixth positions for the Bahrain 8 hour race which was the last WEC race of 2023. However, the Toyota trio of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa eventually clinched the 2023 World Endurance Championship title with a commanding victory in the season finale. Amidst tire degradation influencing the race dynamics, Ferrari emerged as Toyota’s primary competitor.

The 499P LMH driven by Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco, and Nicklas Nielsen claimed the third spot. However, tension arose during the penultimate hour when Fuoco and Alessandro Pier Guidi, in the #51 car, made contact after a pit stop, altering their positions. Despite the setback, Fuoco managed to regain control, securing a podium finish for Ferrari after a lackluster performance at Fuji. Meanwhile, Pier Guidi slipped to sixth place in the car he shared with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi. 

So, overall Ferrari came a respectable second postion in the WEC 2023 season with 161 points. Toyota topped the table as leaders with 217 points mainly due to their excellent first places at Monza, Fuji and Bahrain. Bring on 2024 for AF Corse ! 

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Ferrari 499P – Fuji 6 Hours – WEC – September 2023

Ferrari 499P News

Ferrari 499P - Fuji 6 Hours Race - (WEC) 9th September 2023

Ferrari 499P Fuji 6 Hours race 2023

The two Ferrari 499Ps competing in round six of the FIA WEC World Championship at the Fuji International Speedway, Japan had a pretty tough qualifying session, as reflected by the resulting sixth position (#51) and seventh position (#50).

At the start of qualifying the track was relatively dry; however, in the last part of the session, there was rain which hindered James Calado and Nicklas Nielsen, who were the two drivers selected to qualify in their final attempts to improve their 499P lap times.

Caldado finished sixth with a time of 1’28”991, whilst Nielsen completed the 15-minute time trial 72 thousandths behind.

On race day, The Ferrari – AF Corse team left Japan with a fourth and a fifth place secured by the hard working crews of the Ferrari 499P #50 with Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen and #51 of Pier Guidi-Calado-Giovinazzi.

It seemed that the AF Corse team took a rather cautious approach to their tire strategy but it was a safe option that worked to ensure a reasonable finish. Both cars started on the hard compound Michelin slick tires with #50 moving to medium compound during the last stint of the race.

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Ferrari 499P – Monza 6 Hours – (WEC) – July 8/9th 2023

Ferrari 499P News

Second place for #50 AF Corse - Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar

Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar Monza WEC 2023

Ferrari received two Balance of Performance restrictions for the Monza round of the World Endurance Championship. The Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar was racing 5kg heavier and with its maximum power reduced by 12kW (16hp). This is due to the fact it won the double-points round at the Le Mans race in June.   

The Toyota Team was running at the same weight at Monza as it did in the Le Mans race.  

The results from the Free practice 1 Monza session are that #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P set the pace with a best time of 137.533s  24 Hours with Le Mans winner Alessandro Pier Guidi  behind the wheel, setting the best time of the session to delight Tifosi on home Italian ground.  

In Free practice 2, a 1m36.363s lap by Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota Gazoo GR010 Hybrid Hypercar saw Toyota head Ferrari in this session at Monza. Kobayashi’s time was just 0.170s ahead of the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P as Antonio Fuoco claimed the second-best time. 

In qualifying, Kobayashi claimed the top spot by just over one hundredth of a second aboard the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar, in a closely fought session in which the top three cars were separated by a tenth of a second. A very close session indeed !  

The race on Sunday was a thrilling race for all fans watching.  

Toyota managed to secure a win on this fast 3.6-mile Autodromo Nazionale di Monza track, with drivers Koyayashi, Conway and Lopex at the wheel of the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar with its best lap time of 1 min 36.696secs on lap 180. 

In second place came the Ferrari AF Corse 499p #50 Le Mans Hypercar being driven by Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen which had its fastest lap time of 1 min 36.753secs on lap 149. #50 was 16.520 secs away from the leading Toyota car. Third place was the Peugeot Total Energies #93 Le Mans Hypercar, being driven by Di Resta, Jensen and Vergne.  

The race involved having three safety cars appear on track and the #51 AF Corse in the second 499P Le Mans Hypercar being driven by drivers,  Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi came in fifth place with a best lap time of 1min 36.984secs on lap 166.  

Please have a look at the official race results for Monza on the WEC official web site. 

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A Maranello welcome for the Ferrari 499P

Ferrari 499P News

A visit to the spiritual home of Ferrari

Maranello, the Italian spiritual home of Ferrari, welcomes the winning Ferrari 499P car #51 of the Le Mans 2023 24 hour Centenary race with a true heroes welcome. Delighted employees of the Ferrari Factory Museum and hundreds of fans paid homage to the winning car that won the battle over its rival Toyota.

Car #50 which finished the race in fifth position was also present and celebrated by all who attended as well. Please have a look at the official Ferrari video of this event. 

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Le Mans 2024 for the Ferrari 499P

Ferrari 499P News

Le Mans 2024

The 2024 date has been set !
Let’s look forward to another exciting Le Mans 24 hour race on 15-16th June 2024. Can Ferrari do it again with another memorable win in the Hypercar category with their successful 499P ?
A crowd of 325,000 people watched as seven Hypercar manufacturers (Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Glickenhaus, Cadillac, Vanwall and Peugeot) battled it out over the 24 hour race period. Of course, in the end it was Ferrari 499P car #51 which was victorious with drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado taking the credit for a magnificent performance.