| Circuit | Autódromo José Carlos Pace – Interlagos – Sao Paulo |
| Date | 30.11.2014 |
| Laps | 249 |
| Distance | 1.072,941 km / 666,837 miles |
| No | Driver | Ferrari | S/N | Team | Result |
| 51 | Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2878 |
AF Corse |
10. overall / 4. in class LMGTE PRO |
| 61 | Emerson Fittipaldi Alessandro Pier Guidi Jeffrey Segal |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2876 |
AF Corse
|
21. overall / 6. in class LMGTE AM |
|
71
|
Davide Rigon James Calado |
458 Italia GT2
|
F 142 GT 2880
|
AF Corse
|
9. overall / 3. in class LMGTE PRO
|
| 81 | Steve Wyatt Michele Rugolo Andrea Bertolini |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2874 |
AF Corse | 15. overall / 3. in class LMGTE AM |
| 90 | Matteo Cressoni Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2846 | 8 Star Motorsports | not classified |
Ferrari takes GT constructors’ title
Posted: 30.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Interlagos, 30 November – In the final round of the World Endurance Championship, the Sao Paulo 6 Hours at Interlagos, Ferrari made a clean sweep of it to take the Constructors’ title in the GT class. The win came after a thrilling race which finished behind the Safety Car. 25 minutes before the chequered flag and accident involving Mark Webber’s Porsche prototype and the 90 Ferrari driven by Matteo Cressoni at the time, meant the race was pretty much over. Fortunately neither driver had any serious injuries.
Today’s is Ferrari 17th endurance world title, the third in a row since the WEC championship started. The first win for the Maranello marque came in 1953, the first year of the series, thanks to amazing drivers like Giuseppe Farina, Alberto Ascari, along with Mike Hawthorn and Giannino Marzotto.
The constructors’ title means that Ferrari and the Italian AF Corse team have enjoyed a very successful season. In June it won the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, beating prestigious marques such as Porsche, Chevrolet and Aston Martin. In the penultimate round in Bahrain, Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander took the title in the LMGTE-Pro class of the World Endurance Championship, while the Amato Ferrari-run AF Corse squad took the team’s title for a third consecutive year.
“It’s a fantastic result,” commented Antonello Coletta immediately after the race, having come to Brazil to support the team in this decisive round. “It’s the third world title in a row for Ferrari in the WEC. Reliability, a great effort from the drivers along with great teamwork came together as the key to this umpteenth success, which demonstrates that Ferrari is at the very top in the GT class. Today, we raced in difficult situations, we had a puncture and there were also a few strategy problems for the 51 car. But in the end we got the points we needed to take the title. It’s a job well done, taking all three titles. For now we can enjoy this splendid victory and as from tomorrow, we can start looking to next season.”
The race. In the Pro category, the best placed Ferrari was the 71 458 Italia, driven by Davide Rigon and James Calado, flying the AF Corse colours, which finished third, ahead of team-mates Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander. The class was won by the 97 Aston Martin of Turner and Mucke.
In the LMGTE-Am class, the 81 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Wyatt, Rugolo and Bertolin ended the Sao Paulo 6 Hours in third place. Emerson Fittipaldi had a difficult race on the way to sixth place. When the multiple champion was at the wheel, two and a half hours into the race, he had to pit with a gearbox problem, which took time to fix. The AF Corse mechanics managed to get the car going again in not too long a time. Fittipaldi opted to race in the final round of the WEC in Brazil with the 61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia for his return to racing, having been absent from the cockpit since he last raced in the Brazilian GT back in 2008. It was Emmo’s first time behind the wheel of a Prancing Horse car.
This coming Friday, 5 December, the Ferrari World Endurance Champions will be in Doha for the FIA Prize Giving ceremony and then on Saturday, they will be in Abu Dhabi for the great on-track event at the Finali Mondiali Ferrari.
FIA WEC: Disappointing qualifying for Ferrari in Brazil
Posted: 29.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Interlagos, 29 November – It was a disappointing qualifying for Ferrari in the Sao Paulo 6 Hours, the final round of the World Endurance Championship.
At Interlagos, in the Pro category, the AF Corse 71 car driven by youngsters Rigon and Calado and the 51 Ferrari of the World Champions, Bruni and Vilander could only manage 5th and 6th in qualifying. It’s not what the Italian team had been expecting in a session affected by the red flag coming out, when GTE AM car stopped in a run-off area. It meant the Ferrari drivers were unable to show what they could do. Infact, Toni Vilander ended the session with one less timed lap than the others. Aston Martin took the pole in both Pro and Am for tomorrow’s race.
Amato Ferrari: “We had expected a better qualifying result here in Brazil, but the red flag came out just as Toni Vilander was putting in some great lap times and it badly affected his car 51 and the 71 car of Rigon and Calado.”
The best Ferrari performance in GTE Am came from the 81 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, driven by Bertolini, Rugolo and Wyatt, which qualified third. Fourth was Ferrari 61 driven by multi-champion Emerson Fittipaldi, Pier Guid and Segal and fifth went to the 90 car of Team 8 Star Motorsports, crewed by Roda, Ruberti and Cressoni.
While qualifying did not deliver the hoped for results for the Italian Ferrari team, tomorrow’s Sao Paulo 6 Hours looks like being a thriller with plenty of action. The Maranello marque has but one aim, to get a clean sweep and take the Constructors’ title. The race starts at 13h00 (16h00 CET.)
WEC World Endurance Championship – Ferrari in Brazil everything on the red
Posted: 28.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Maranello, 28 November –The scene is set in Interlagos for the final World Endurance Championship (WEC) race of the year, with four titles still up for grabs including the GT constructors. Ferrari leads it, 25 points ahead of Porsche, with Aston Martin now out of the running. The rules state that the first two cars from each constructor can score points, independent of whether they are racing in LMGTE-Pro or LMGTE-Am. The maximum available is 44 points and it means that, if Porsche take one point for pole and finish first and second, then Ferrari must finish at least third and eighth, or fourth and sixth. It’s not impossible, but you never know what surprises the tricky Interlagos track has in store, especially if, as seems likely, it rains.
The champions. As usual in LMGTE-Pro, world champions elect AF Corse have two Ferraris entered, car 51 for champions Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander and number 71 for Davide Rigon and James Calado. The responsibility for giving the Maranello marque its 17th world title rests mainly on this quartet. The first title came in 1953, the year the series started, with a classy driver line up of Giuseppe Farina, Alberto Ascari and Mike Hawthorn, as well as Giannino Marzotto and Marco Crosara.
The last temptation of Emmo. In LMGTE-Am, the big nes is the return of Emerson Fittipaldi, as the 67 year old will be driving the AF Corse 61 Ferrari 458 Italia. The Brazilian, who was Formula 1 World Champion 40 years ago with McLaren, will be racing a Maranello car for the first time. Alongside him will be Italy’s Alessandro Pier Guidi and the American Jeffrey Segal. There’s another AF Corse car in this category, the 81 car for Steve Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Scuderia Ferrari F1 test driver Andrea Bertolini. The fifth Ferrari is the 8 Star Motorsport car crewed by Giorgio Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Matteo Cressoni.
Previously. Ferrari has won 13 GT races in Interlagos. The first wins came in 1950 and ’51, courtesy of Italo-Brazilian Francesco “Chico” Sacco Landi, who won at the wheel of a 125 C. In 1954 and ’55, Brazil’s Celso Lara Barberis took a brace of wins in a 250 MM, while in 1958, another Rio driver, Fritz D’Orey won the Interlagos 500 Km with a special Ferrari he had modified himself. Ferrari returned to winning ways in Brazil in 2006, when the Scuderia Playteam crew of Vilander and Guidi, joined on this occasion by Italy’s Giambattista Giannoccaro won the Brazil 1000 Miles in the GT2 class. There were a further five wins in the Brazilian series between 2006 and 2011, while since the inception of WEC, the race has always been won by Gimmi Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella.
FIA WEC: a Ferrari 458 Italia GTE for Emerson Fittipaldi in Sao Paulo
Posted: 26.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Two time Formula 1 World Champion and winner of the Indy 500, Emerson Fittipaldi will be taking part in the Sao Paulo 6 Hours, the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship next Sunday, 30 November. The news was announced by Amato Ferrari, Team Principal of the Italian AF Corse team.
“It’s a great honour to have a great champion like Fittipaldi driving for our team,” he said. “Emerson was one of my heroes when I was young and so it’s a pleasure to have him with us in the Sao Paulo race. It will thus see his dream of driving for Ferrari realised. He is very motivated and I’m sure he will do a good job.”
Emerson will race in the GTE Am category in Ferrari number 61, alongside Jeff Segal and Alessandro Pier Guidi. The last time Fittipaldi raced was back in 2008, in a Brazilian GT race.
| Circuit | Bahrain International Circuit |
| Date | 15.11.2014 |
| Laps | 195 |
| Distance | 1.055,340 km / 655,898 miles |
| No | Driver | Ferrari | S/N | Team | Result |
| 51 | Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2878 |
AF Corse |
13. overall / 1. in class LMGTE PRO |
| 61 | Alexander Talkanitsa Alessandro Pier Guidi Jeffrey Segal |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2876 |
AF Corse
|
23. overall / 6. in class LMGTE AM |
|
71
|
Davide Rigon James Calado |
458 Italia GT2
|
F 142 GT 2880
|
AF Corse
|
15. overall / 3. in class LMGTE PRO
|
| 81 | Steve Wyatt Michele Rugolo Andrea Bertolini |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2874 |
AF Corse | 19. overall / 2. in class LMGTE AM |
| 90 | Matteo Cressoni Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti |
458 Italia GT2 | F 142 GT 2846 | 8 Star Motorsports | 22. overall / 5. in class LMGTE AM |
FIA World Endurance Championship – Bruni and Vilander are World Champions
Posted: 15.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Sakhir, 15 November– Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander are this year’s FIA World Endurance Champions in the LMGTE-Pro category. Driving the Team AF Corse number 51 458 Italia they did it in the best way possible, also taking the win in the Bahrain 6 Hours at the Sakhir circuit, beating the Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke and the 71 Ferrari of team-mates James Calado and Davide Rigon.
Totally dominant. Having started from second, the 51 car soon took the lead thanks to a great first stint from Bruni, who with his usual foot-down style never considered simply controlling the situation, but chose to attack to avoid any possible loss of concentration. Toni Vilander made the most of all his experience, managing the car perfectly, helped by the fact their closest rivals for the title in the Porsches, were never in the running.
Doubly happy. Apart from Bruni and Vilander taking the title, the fact that the Porsche of Patrick Pilet and Frederic Makowiecki only came home fifth means that AF Corse has taken the teams prize with one race in hand. The Amato Ferrari-run squad pretty much owns this trophy having won the teams’ title since WEC came into being. The Italian team thus takes its third title in three seasons. One can say the same for Gimmi Bruni who repeated his 2013 title-winning achievement, because in 2012 there was no specific classification for GT drivers. The crew of car 51 has really enjoyed the perfect season, having already won its class in June in the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours. For this season to be truly unforgettable, Ferrari still has to take the constructors’ crown, a mission that will have to wait until the final round, in a fortnight’s time in Interlagos, Brazil.
FIA WEC – “Gimmi” Bruni e Toni Vilander take the title in FIA WEC
Posted: 15.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Antonello Coletta (Head of Ferrari Racing Activity): – “This was another fantastic day for Ferrari as we won the race getting both our cars onto the podium, with Bruni and Vilander first and Calado and Rigon third. I want to congratulate Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander on taking the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMGTE-Pro class title here in Bahain, with one race in hand and Amato Ferrari and all the guys in his team from Piacenza for taking the team title for a third consecutive year. Now we head to Brazil to try and bring home the final title, the Constructors’ one, which for Ferrari is the most important of all.”
Toni Vilander – “This is a very emotional moment as, for the first time, I am World Champion and it still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve succeeded in this great achievement. After the disappointment in Shanghai, the past two weeks have been very long for me. Today’s race wasn’t easy and I tried to give it my all, pushing ever harder in every stint until the win came. I want to thank Ferrari, Antonello Coletta, Amato Ferrari and all the guys in his team, along with those from Michelotto for the great job they did on the car after Gimmi’s bad luck at the last race.”
Gimmi Bruni – “Today was a fantastic day and for the second year in a row I’m World Champion. I am very happy to be able to share this important victory with my team-mate Toni Vilander. I want to thank Ferrari, the team from Michelotto and all the guys from AF Corse for the amazing job they did in completely repairing the car after my accident in Shanghai.”
Amato Ferrari (AF Corse team owner): “It’s been an incredible weekend which started on the back foot after the accident in China, but thanks to the efforts and great work of the entire team, we managed to make a really good recovery. Today, our race strategy was perfect and we ended up with two cars on the podium, winning two world titles for the third consecutive time with one race in hand. I want to congratulate Gimmi and Toni for this great result and I thank Ferrari and Antonello Coletta, Head of Ferrari Racing Activity for their invaluable contribution. Now we are already concentrating on the next round in Brazil, where we want to bring home the most important title, the one for Constructors.”
FIA World Endurance Championship – Ferrari second and third in qualifying in Bahrain
Posted: 14.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Sakhir, 14 November- In pole position ancora una volta l’Aston Martin che domani partirà dalle prime posizioni sia nel raggruppamento Pro che Am. Ferrari got off to a good start in the Bahrain 6 Hours, the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. At the Bahrain circuit, Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander are back on track after the disappointment of the race in Shanghai. Tomorrow, the AF Corse crew will start from second place, with team-mates Davide Rigon and James Calado right behind them. That’s cause for optimism in the Ferrari camp. In the GTE Pro class, the Bruni-Vilander pairing could take the prestigious title with one race in hand. They just need to finish ahead of the Porsche of Frenchman Frederic Makowiecki, irrespective of where they place, with a lead of 24.5 points.
Gimmi Bruni: “It was a good qualifying and the car is responding well on track. We managed to make a small further improvement and today’s goal was to stay in the top two and we managed it. Now we are thinking about tomorrow’s race.”
Toni Vilander: “P2 is a great result especially with a view to tomorrow’s race. Gimmi produced a spectacular qualifying performance, while I did two reasonable laps and I could definitely have done better. I will give it my all in the race tomorrow.”
The AF Corse and 8 Star Motorsports Ferrari 458s, were fourth and fifth in the GTE Am class, crewed respectively by Talkanitsa, Pier Guidi and Segal and da Roda, Ruberti, Cressoni. The AF Corse 81 cars driven by Wyatt, Rugolo and Bertolini unfortunately did not take part in qualifying. Outright pole position went in the LMP1 category went to the 14 Porsche of Dumas, Jani and Lieb.
It looks like the Bahrain 6 Hours is going to be a fascinating race and it starts tomorrow, Saturday at 15h00 (13h00 CET) and will end at 21h00 under floodlights.
FIA World Endurance Championship – Bruni and Vilander chasing decisive points in Bahrain
Posted: 13.11.2014
Source: Ferrari
Maranello, 13 November–Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander are about to try again. After unfortunately lasting a mere two laps in the Shanghai race, the AF Corse Ferrari 458 crew will be chasing the points they need to take the title this weekend in Bahrain. They still have a reasonable lead in the classification and a strong showing in the 6 Hours could see the Italian and Finn take the title with one race in hand. They lead French Porsche driver Frederic Makowiecki by 24.5 points and Austria’s Richard Lietz, in a similar car by 40.
Other titles. In the other two World Championship classes contested by Ferrari, it looks almost impossible for the titles to be decided here. In the Constructors’ the Maranello marque leads Porsche by 7 points, while AF Corse has an 11 point lead over the rival Manthey team. In order to celebrate victory at the Sakhir track the opposition would have to crumble completely.
The Ferraris. There are five Prancing Horse cars competing across the two GT classes. In GTE Pro, apart from Bruni and Vilander in car 51, we have as usual, Davide Rigon and James Calado in the 71 car. In GTE Am AF Corse are running 61 and 81 for Alexander Talkanitsa, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Jeffrey Segal and Steve Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Andrea Bertolini, test driver for the Scuderia’s Formula 1 team respectively. Also on the grid will be the 90 car of 8 Star Motorsports with Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Matteo Cressoni.
In the past. Ferrari has a good track record at Sakhir, mainly because last year, the championship title was secured at this circuit, when it hosted the final race of the season. Bruni was the winner, taking the title with Vilander. The Finn also won the previous year alongside Giancarlo Fisichella, while the other four wins date back to 2004, specifically the Bahrain GT Festival event. On that occasion, three out of four races were won by the late Allan Simonsen paired with David Brabham at the wheel of a 550 Maranello entered by Coopers Racing. The fourth win came in the GT2 category, courtesy of Sergey Zlobin and Jean-Philippe Belloc in a JMB Racing 360 Modena.