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] © Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco described the Italian manufacturer’s race in Qatar as ‘not positive’, while teammate James Calado called it ‘tricky’, in what was a challenging competition for the scarlet red cars.
The #50 Ferrari 499P finished eighth on the road — seventh with the #93 Peugeot 9X8’s disqualification — while the #51 car was a disappointing 13th, outside of the points.
“The first race of the year didn’t go as planned,” said Fuoco from the #50 Ferrari.
“We need to improve ourselves as we made too many errors today. Our goal now is to come back even stronger. We are already looking ahead to the next race at Imola, where we hope to showcase our abilities once again.”
Miguel Molina, who started the race, took the lead at the beginning, ahead of Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche 963 and Nico Muller in the #93 Peugeot. However, Muller eventually overtook Molina shortly before the pitstop cycle began.
Molina, hoping to gain an advantage, pitted 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 Porsches from the factory Penske-run team and the customer JOTA squad, ultimately finishing seventh.
Meanwhile, the #51 Ferrari was running in the top 10, but during the second hour, the rear bodywork came off the car after colliding with a United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 car. Alessandro Pier Guidi, who was driving at the time, pitted to have the bodywork replaced, but the car lost two laps in the process and was unable to recover the lost time.
“We completed a challenging race in which we made some mistakes and were a bit unlucky, to be honest,” said Calado, one of Pier Guidi’s teammates.
“But after the practice and qualifying sessions, we knew that we had little chance of achieving a great result on this track. Now we are focused on the future, hoping to return to the track at Imola with different goals.”
One positive aspect for AF Corse, the factory Ferrari team, was the impressive performance of their customer, the privately-run 499P. The yellow-liveried car, driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman, finished fifth, the highest-placed 499P and the best among the LMH-rules Hypercars.
“The race result confirmed what we had already seen during the Prologue and in the simulations, which is the significant difference from other cars that prevented us from fighting for the podium. Despite Molina’s excellent start, we had no chance of contending for a top position,” said Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari’s head of endurance race cars.
“The race was not without flaws and unfortunate incidents, but we tried to achieve the best possible outcome for our cars by adopting an aggressive strategy. Despite the demanding track, our tire management was commendable, as we experienced neither degradation nor wear even with multiple double and triple stints on the tires.”
HEADLINE 2: Ferrari drivers express dissatisfaction with Qatar 1812km race
Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco described the Italian manufacturer’s race in Qatar as ‘not positive’, while teammate James Calado called it ‘tricky’, in what was a challenging competition for the scarlet red cars.
The #50 Ferrari 499P finished eighth on the road — seventh with the #93 Peugeot 9X8’s disqualification — while the #51 car was a disappointing 13th, outside of the points.
“The first race of the year didn’t go as planned,” said Fuoco from the #50 Ferrari.
“We need to improve ourselves as we made too many errors today. Our goal now is to come back even stronger. We are already looking ahead to the next race at Imola, where we hope to showcase our abilities once again.”
Miguel Molina, who started the race, took the lead at the beginning, ahead of Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche 963 and Nico Muller in the #93 Peugeot. However, Muller eventually overtook Molina shortly before the pitstop cycle began.
Molina, hoping to gain an advantage, pitted 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 Porsches from the factory Penske-run team and the customer JOTA squad, ultimately finishing seventh.
Meanwhile, the #51 Ferrari was running in the top 10, but during the second hour, the rear bodywork came off the car after colliding with a United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 car. Alessandro Pier Guidi, who was driving at the time, pitted to have the bodywork replaced, but the car lost two laps in the process and was unable to recover the lost time.
“We completed a challenging race in which we made some mistakes and were a bit unlucky, to be honest,” said Calado, one of Pier Guidi’s teammates.
“But after the practice and qualifying sessions, we knew that we had little chance of achieving a great result on this track. Now we are focused on the future, hoping to return to the track at Imola with different goals.”
One positive aspect for AF Corse, the factory Ferrari team, was the impressive performance of their customer, the privately-run 499P. The yellow-liveried car, driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman, finished fifth, the highest-placed 499P and the best among the LMH-rules Hypercars.
“The race result confirmed what we had already seen during the Prologue and in the simulations, which is the significant difference from other cars that prevented us from fighting for the podium. Despite Molina’s excellent start, we had no chance of contending for a top position,” said Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari’s head of endurance race cars.
“The race was not without flaws and unfortunate incidents, but we tried to achieve the best possible outcome for our cars by adopting an aggressive strategy. Despite the demanding track, our tire management was commendable, as we experienced neither degradation nor wear even with multiple double and triple stints on the tires.”