24 Hours of Le Mans – Two Ferrari customer teams on the podium in the La Sarthe classic
Posted: 17.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 17 June 2018 – The 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans won’t be remembered with any fondness by Ferrari crews in the GTE-Pro class. A large dose of bad luck, along with the impossibility of fighting on equal terms with other manufacturers due to an unhelpful Balance of Performance (BOP), kept the 488 GTEs of AF Corse off the podium. It was better in the GTE-Am class with two podium finishes thanks to Spirit of Race and Keating Motorsports-Risi Competizione.
GTE-Pro. The race of the Ferrari crews in GTE-Pro class was immediately affected by incidents. A puncture during the third hour forced James Calado to limp from the Michelin chicane to the pits, losing practically a lap. The first Safety Car phase then split the group into three sections, with Porsche no. 92 out on its own behind Safety Car A, all the rest of the GT cars stuck behind Safety Car B car and no. 51 behind the third Safety Car. This cut world champions Calado and Pier Guidi along with Daniel Serra out of the leading group. During the following neutralisation, car no. 71 found itself with a damaged front splitter due to debris from another car and lost a few laps for repairs. The 488 GTE stayed in the race and crossed the finish line in tenth place, earning championship points. Antonio Giovinazzi, Pipo Derani and Toni Vilander in car no. 52 benefited from the Safety Car, moving up into second. During the night Calado, Pier Guidi and Serra lapped like metronomes rising to sixth position before dropping back to eighth due to a shock absorber problem. However, this finish was worth fifth place in terms of points, as only cars entered in the FIA World Endurance Championship are elegible for. Car no. 52, on the other hand, suffered three stops&go’s for speeding in the slow zone and the pits but finished in sixth. Victory went to Christensen-Estre-Vanthoor in the Porsche no. 92.
GTE-Am. As usual, Ferrari customer teams played a leading role in the GTE-Am. In this class too, Porsche made the most of the favourable configuration imposed by the regulations, but Spirit of Race, Keating Motorsport-Risi Competizione and JMW Motorsport teams, later delayed by a series of problems, were in the fight. Giancarlo Fisichella started out like a lion and even led for a time before having to content himself with a fight for a podium place when car no. 77 of Campbell-Ried-Andlauer took a decisive lead. After a difficult start the Keating Motorsports crew pulled off a perfect comeback thanks to solid stints from Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Lucas Stolz. In the final stage Keating’s mistake gave Flohr, Castellacci and Fisichella second position but a podium was never in doubt. The Ferrari of JMW Motorsport (MacNeil-Griffin-Segal) finished fifth while the car of Clearwater Racing (Griffin-Mok-Sawa) was eighth, ahead of the 488 GTE of MR Racing (Ishikawa-Beretta-Cheever III). The overall win went to the Toyota of Alonso-Nakajima-Buemi.
24 Hours of Le Mans – Two Ferraris still in the group
Posted: 17.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 17 June 2018 – The sun is shining again over the 24 Hours, but it’s as anaemic as the race enjoyed by the Ferraris in the GTE-Pro class, who haven’t had much luck so far.
GTE-Pro. The 488 GTE no. 52 of AF Corse is still the best placed but slipped from fourth to seventh due to two stop & go’s for a slow zone infringement and one in the pits. The car also had to make the longer pit stop to change the brakes. The same is true for no. 51, in eighth after a night spent on the attack in an attempt to make up time lost with a puncture at the start of the race. Ferrari no. 71 is still on track even though it is several laps off the lead, in eleventh. Porsche no. 92 remains in command.
GTE-Am. Ferrari is still doing well in the class aimed more at gentlemen drivers. The 488 GTE of Keating Motorsport – Risi Competizione is in second, ahead of Flohr-Fisichella-Castellacci for Spirit of Race. JMW Motorsport’s entry has slipped back and is now in eighth behind its Clearwater Racing rival. The Ferrari of MR Racing is tenth.
24 Hours of Le Mans – Midway point in sight
Posted: 17.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 17 June 2018 – The 24 Hours of Le Mans is now in its eleventh hour and not much has happened in the last six.
GTE-Pro. In the main class, Antonio Giovinazzi is back at the wheel of the Ferrari 488 GTE no. 52, driving the AF Corse team car into fourth. Daniel Serra is eighth in car no. 51, while no. 71 is in 13th place with Miguel Molina.
GTE-Am. In the GTE-Am class, the Ferraris of Keating Motorsport and JMW Motorsport are in second and third place. Spirit of Race’s car is in sixth while Clearwater Racing holds eighth place. MR Racing rounds off the Ferrari group in 12th.
24 Hours of Le Mans – Car no. 52 battling for the podium
Posted: 16.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 16 June 2018 – The 86th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours race is in its seventh hour and the Ferraris are fighting, with the cars of AF Corse dogged by bad luck.
GTE-Pro. In the early stages of the race, car no. 51 had climbed to fourth when James Calado suffered a puncture at the Michelin chicane and then had to drive the entire lap at a limited speed. A Safety Car, brought on due to a puncture on a prototype, then broke the race into three sections. Porsche no. 92 led, because it was behind Safety Car A, while all the other GT cars were stuck behind Safety Car B, and car no. 51, delayed by the puncture, was behind the third safety car. Car no. 52, with Antonio Giovinazzi at the wheel, benefited from the situation, to take command of the group that was chasing the leader. At the moment, car no. 52 is seventh in the group fighting for the podium, while car no. 51 has been lapped by the race leader. Car no. 71 found itself with a damaged front splitter probably due to debris and lost a few laps for repairs.
GTE-Am. The 488 GTEs of JMW Motorsport and Spirit of Race are continuing their excellent race in the GTE-Am class. Porsche no. 77 leads the field, while the Ferrari of Jeff Segal, Cooper MacNeil and Liam Griffin is in second. The 488 GTE of Keating Motorsport has climbed into fifth with Jeroen Bleekemolen overtaking Thomas Flohr in the twin car of Spirit of Race. Clearwater Racing’s entry is in eighth, while the 488 GTE of MR Racing lost a few laps to a technical problem.
24 Hours of Le Mans – 86th edition underway
Posted: 16.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 16 June 2018 – At 3 pm tennis player Rafael Nadal waved the flag to start the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was immediately marked by an accident involving two prototypes.
GTE-Pro. At the start, Ferrari 488 GTE no. 51 of AF Corse, driven by James Calado, was overtaken by Porsche no. 93 and Ford no. 66, which took advantage of their higher top speed allowed by the regulations. Sam Bird and Toni Vilander maintained the starting position. Calado was able to recover fifth place.
GTE-Am. Giancarlo Fisichella pulled off a Formula 1 style start, surging from fourth to second in the Ferrari no. 54 of Spirit of Race. Matt Griffin also got off to a great start in the car of Clearwater Racing, as did the car of JMW Motorsport.
24 Hours of Le Mans – Massive crowds greet the Ferrari drivers parading through the city
Posted: 15.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 15 June 2018 – Ferrari drivers took part in the traditional parade through the centre of Le Mans the day before the 24 Hours. The crews of cars no. 51, 71 and 52 were preceded only by the new 488 Pista ‘Piloti Ferrari’, the car that the guys who brought the constructors’ world title to Maranello had unveiled at 12 pm.
Group photo. Before the start of the parade, all 24 drivers competing behind the wheel of a Ferrari 488 GTE posed for a group photo together with the new Tailor Made special series. Some of the biggest cheers, of course, were for the three AF Corse crews racing in the GTE-Pro class: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra (car no. 51), Davide Rigon, Sam Bird and Miguel Molina (no. 71) and Antonio Giovinazzi, Pipo Derani and Toni Vilander (no. 52), who threw promotional items and postcards from their classic cars to a public that, as usual, thronged the city streets.
Race at 3 pm. After this light and fun moment, the focus returns to the world’s most gruelling race. The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 will start on Saturday at 3 pm.
24 Hours of Le Mans – The Ferrari of Pier Guidi-Calado-Serra to start from second row
Posted: 15.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 15 June 2018 – The Ferrari crews in the GTE-Pro class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will start on the second, fifth and eighth rows. The 86th edition of the French classic, known to everyone as the toughest race in the world, will kick off at 3 pm on Saturday at the Circuit de la Sarthe circuit. The fastest of the Ferrari in the GTE-Am class will also start from the second row. The six hours of qualifying, which can seem endless to anyone who doesn’t know Le Mans, were a sort of lottery because with 60 cars competing there really was very little free track with no yellow flag to slow down the drivers. Low temperatures and a particularly dirty track made things very difficult. In the last part of the third session the rain also started to fall.
GTE-Pro. In the GTE-Pro class, the times were obtained in the first minutes of the two night sessions. In the first on Wednesday, car no. 51 of world champions Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, together with Daniel Serra, recorded the fifth fastest time in 3:49:854 with Pier Guidi at the wheel. In the third session, the Italian driver improved to 3:49:494, moving up to fourth place. In car no. 71 Sam Bird, alternating at the wheel with Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina, couldn’t do better than a 3:50:669, forced to limit his speed due to a slow zone called by race officials over the last few hundred metres of the lap. On Thursday evening the British driver cut his time to 3:50:246, moving from 12th to 10th. Car no. 52 recorded the sharpest improvement, with Pipo Derani cutting its time from 3:52:112 on Wednesday to 3:50:957 on Thursday. The Porsche no. 91 of Bruni-Makowiecki-Lietz set the best time in 3:47:504.
GTE-Am. The picture in the GTE-Am class was similar to the main category, with Ferraris fighting for a place on the second row. In the end, the 488 GTE no. 54 of Spirit of Race crewed by Giancarlo Fisichella, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr came out best with a time of 3:51:956 good for fourth position. Clearwater Racing no. 8 will start from the fourth row, with Weng Sun Mok, Matt Griffin and Keita Sawa stopping the clock at 3:53:409, 30 thousandths of a second faster than the 488 GTE of JMW Motorsport driven by Liam Griffin, Cooper MacNeil and Jeff Segal. Ferrari no. 85 of Keating Motorsport, with Stolz-Keating-Bleekemolen, set the eleventh fastest time in 3:54:000, while MR Racing (Ishikawa-Beretta-Cheever III) were 13th in 3:54:951.
24 Hours of Le Mans – Eight Ferrari crews go for glory
Posted: 13.06.2018 / Source: Ferrari
Le Mans, 13 June 2018 – The first free practice session today at 4 pm, will mark the official opening of the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Sixty cars are due to start, divided equally between prototypes and GT cars. The GT contingent includes 17 cars in the GTE-Pro class and 13 in the GTE-Am. There are three Ferraris in the Pro class and five in the Am.
GTE-Pro. Three Ferraris are competing in the top class for professional drivers, all in the colours of AF Corse. The iconic no. 51 will be crewed by world champions Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, who today celebrates 29 years on the track. They will be joined by Brazilian Daniel Serra. Last year Calado and Pier Guidi dominated the Drivers’ championship with an incredible second half of the season and amazing wins like those at Austin and Fuji. Daniel Serra, instead, started the IMSA season in America with a pole position in the Ferrari of Spirit of Race at both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. The same trio as last year will drive car no. 71. Sam Bird will take turns in the 488 GTE with Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina, a globetrotting driver who has been notching up some great results in the European Le Mans Series, the Blancpain Endurance and the Pirelli World Challenge.
Car no. 52. The 488 GTE no. 52 is not the usual one that takes part in the FIA WEC. Instead, it is only competing in this race and is doing so with drivers who mix experience and youth. The crew includes Toni Vilander, one of the most experienced drivers in the world, twice winner of the Sarthe classic, Pipo Derani, who despite his tender years has already triumphed in the 24 Hours of Daytona and Sebring, and Antonio Giovinazzi. Giovinazzi has prepared with dedication for his debut in the French race, practising on the simulator and working hard in the test two weeks before the race. Indeed, he recorded the best time for his crew in car no. 52.
GTE-Am. Five Ferrari cars will be racing in the GTE-Am class, three of which are habitual FIA WEC competitors, while the other two appear in Europe and America. Giancarlo Fisichella, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci will take turns in the 488 GTE of Spirit of Race, while Motoaki Ishikawa, Olivier Beretta and Eddie Cheever III will be in car no. 70 of MR Racing. Car no. 61 of Clearwater Racing, driven by Keitha Sawa, Weng Sun Mok and Matt Griffin, completes the trio of Ferraris entered for the entire championship season. They are joined by the 488 GTEs of JMW Motorsport, which has abandoned its traditional yellow on behalf of sponsor Cooper MacNeil who will be at the wheel along with Jeff Segal and Liam Griffin, and that of Risi Competizione, entered by Keating Motorsport and driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, Lucas Stolz and Ben Keating. Today’s free practices (4 pm to 8 pm) will be followed by the first qualifying session (10 pm to 12 am). The other two qualifying sessions take place on Thursday (7 pm to 9 pm and 10 pm to 12 am).