James in #51 is 20 seconds behind #6 Porsche and catching slowly.
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James in #51 is 20 seconds behind #6 Porsche and catching slowly.
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Half race distance
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18:24:39 Race Control CAR 83 - DRIVE THROUGH PENALTY - INCIDENT AT T1 AT 133243
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James in #51 is continuing to catch #5 Porsche after the pit stops, now 13 seconds behind.
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The Porsches have swapped positions and now James is 9 seconds behind #6
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#83 Having a terrible day down in 12th. Now make that 13th.
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FCY. Would rather we had a SC tbh...
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19:30:06 Hypercar #83 Driver change (YE, Yifei to SHWARTZMAN, Robert)
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2 hours to go
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19:37:48 Hypercar #50 Driver change (MOLINA, Miguel to FUOCO, Antonio)
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19:40:20 Hypercar #51 Driver change (CALADO, James to PIER GUIDI, Alessandro)
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19:45:21 Race Control CAR 5 - BLACK AND ORANGE FLAG - REPAIR THE REAR RIGHT CHEESE WEDGE
Helps a little bit in the constructors championship.
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It's been far too easy for Toyota today.
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Final hour
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I don't know what's gone wrong this weekend, the weight penalty won't have helped but we've lacked raw pace, are the upgrades working? Did we not understand the tyres?
I hope we find out because this has been very disappointing after Le Mans.
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I'm glad that's over...
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So they expected a painful weekend. They've got a lot of work to do before COTA.San Paolo 15 July 2024
The 6 Hours of São Paulo concluded with fifth—and sixth-place finishes for the two 499Ps of Ferrari—AF Corse. Drivers and management commented on this somewhat expected result at the end of the race.
Antonio Fuoco, 499P #50: “In general, this was a difficult weekend. We have no regrets because we know we gave our all, and considering the performance seen on the track over the six hours, we couldn’t have done better.”
Miguel Molina, 499P #50: “The team did a tremendous job, and we tried every solution, even varying the tyre compounds during the race, to perform at our best. However, we couldn’t compete for the top positions in terms of pace. The positive aspect is that we scored some vital championship points.”
Nicklas Nielsen, 499P #50: “The Brazilian weekend was tricky from the first free practice session. After the extraordinary victory at Le Mans, we were hoping for a better result, but we have no regrets because we know we gave our best as a team. The points we scored with our 499Ps will still be crucial for the championship.”
Alessandro Pier Guidi, 499P #51: “As always, we approached this race aiming for the best possible result. We knew that, compared to some opponents, we would struggle to compete for the top positions, and the race proved it.”
James Calado, 499P #51: “We couldn't contend for the win here in Sao Paulo in terms of pace. The result reflects what we saw throughout the weekend, and although the penalty (Drive Through, Ed) cost us some seconds, it was not decisive for the final result.”
Antonio Giovinazzi, 499P #51: “We did our utmost on this track, trying to realise our potential. Now we look ahead to the next round in Austin, an essential race for the championship.”
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti: “At the end of a race like the one we experienced here in Brazil, it’s difficult to find the right words to express the team’s frustration and sense of helplessness. Despite impeccable work in preparing for the event and during the race, it was impossible to achieve a better result on the track. We knew we couldn't compete for victory, and unfortunately, what occurred in the simulations was confirmed by what happened in the race. We hope to have the chance to put up a fair fight in Austin.”
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars: “Unfortunately, the result of the 6 Hours of Interlagos confirmed what we expected from the pre-race analysis, demonstrating an excellent correlation between the virtual simulations and the track. Although we maximised the performance of the package available, the gap to our rivals was far too big today to aim for the podium. All we can do now is look ahead and hope that we’ll have a chance to be competitive in the coming races.”
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https://www.autosport.com/wec/news/f...s-block-anchorFerrari rules out IMSA entry with Le Mans Hypercar in 2025
The Italian marque will continue to focus on WEC next year
Ferrari has ruled out an expansion of its 499P Le Mans Hypercar programme into the IMSA SportsCar Championship for next year.
The Italian manufacturer has outlined a plan for 2025 that does not involve the North American series for which the 499P is eligible in the GTP class and instead calls for a continued focus on the World Endurance Championship, again with a three-car assault in Hypercar.
Ferrari head of sportscar racing boss Antonello Coletta told Autosport that the brand “prefers to consolidate our programme” rather than expanding onto a second front in what will be the third season of competition for its two-time Le Mans 24 Hour-winning LMH.
“Next year we will be involved only in WEC and not IMSA - now we concentrate on the WEC with three cars,” he said.
That will mean two factory 499Ps run by AF Corse in the Hypercar class and the new-for-2024 customer or satellite entry, also run by AF, that competes in the FIA Endurance Trophy for hypercar teams rather than manufacturers’ points.
The assault with the yellow-liveried Ferrari, this year raced by Robert Kubica and factory drivers Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, will continue “unless there are any surprises”, Coletta said.
Coletta has talked openly about a desire for the 499P to one day race in the USA, a key road car market for Ferrari.
Longtime US sportscar entrant Giuseppe Risi, whose eponymous team is currently racing a Ferrari 296 GT3 in the IMSA enduros in GT Daytona Pro, has made no secret of a desire to return to the prototype ranks with the marque he has represented for more than a quarter of a century.
“At the moment we don’t have a plan to go to America, but it is not impossible for the future,” continued Coletta.
“We need to take time for each development of our activity.”
Ferrari was most recently involved in the top class of North American sportscar racing with the 333SP customer car built to IMSA’s World Sports Car regulations.
It competed from 1994 through until 2003, taking one victory in the Daytona 24 Hours and three at the Sebring 12 Hours.
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Disaster for #51, retired the car in the pits.
BMW are absolutely flying as well.
bonne chance Charles
Congratulations to Ferrari 83 AFCorse for winning WEC at COTA.
Forza Jules
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Amazing for Ferrari to win two races on the same day!WEC COTA: AF Corse Ferrari sneaks past Toyota for win
Ferrari notches its first victory in a regular WEC race in a thrilling end-of-race battle with Toyota
#83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar of Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye
Ferrari took its first victory in a regular World Endurance Championship race with the customer AF Corse-run 499P driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman at Austin.
The Italian manufacturer, a two-time winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours with the 499P Le Mans Hypercar, followed up on Charles Leclerc’s Monza Grand Prix victory after a thrilling finish to Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race on the Circuit of The Americas.
Shwartzman inherited the lead from the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH with 40 minutes of the race to run when Kamui Kobayashi took a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement.
The Japanese driver, teamed with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, came out of the pits nine seconds behind the Ferrari but quickly made up ground.
Kobayashi was still closing at the end, but ran out of time, ending up just 1.7 seconds behind at the chequered flag.
Toyota appeared to have a win in the bag as the race entered its final stages, having managed to get the undercut on the yellow Ferrari, which had led the majority of the first two-thirds of the race.
Kobayashi took the wheel for the final two hours and pulled away from Shwartzman, building up a lead of 10 seconds only to lose it for a penalty for ignoring yellow flags at Turn 11.
Third place at COTA went to the Le Mans-winning factory Ferrari crew of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco.
They lacked the pace of the customer Ferrari and the sister works 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessasndro Pier Guidi which ended up retiring from the race.
Driveline issues that followed a collision with an LMGT3 runner left it with a damaged wheel rim and then a spin while Giovinazzi was lapping one of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs conspired against the #51 crew.
Cadillac took fourth — its best result of the season — with the Ganassi-run V-Series.R shared by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn.
Alpine followed in fifth in the A424 LMDh shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi. They fought back from an early penalty after Habsburg locked up on the first lap and was penalised for the contact with Bamber at Turn 12 at the end of the long back straight.
The Signatech-run Alpine benefitted from a late penalty for Kevin Estre in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh for a yellow-flag infringement, which left the Penske-run car co-driven by Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer sixth at the flag.
Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre fought through the field from 14th on the grid, with Estre surviving a clash with Sebastien Buemi in the second Toyota in the race's fifth hour.
Buemi, on an outlap, made contact with the Porsche as he moved over on the back straight to protect his position. He continued to move to the left, resulting in a second contact.
The Toyota sustained a rear puncture and bodywork damage, before being given a 30-second stop-go penalty for causing a collision that left the car 15th and last of the classified finishers in Hypercar.
The best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs, the #20 car driven by Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde, was also hit with a late penalty of 100s for an energy infringement. It lost a top-six position as a result, ending up in 13th at the finish.
Aston triumphs in LMGT3
The LMGT3 class was dominated by the American-flagged Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad.
Its Vantage GT3 crewed by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas crossed the line with almost half a minute in hand over its nearest competitor to take the victory.
Bronze-rated James, who's also Heart of Racing's team principal, laid the foundation for the squad’s first WEC victory since joining the series last year. The Briton converted pole position into the race lead and raced away from Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.
Heart of Racing’s run to victory was made easier when a clash between the Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini (which Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting) and the best of the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs (the #81 entry driven by Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood) took both cars from contention.
That allowed the two Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs — running 1-2 in the class points coming into the Austin race — to come through to claim second and third positions despite receiving a Balance of Performance hit and carrying significant success ballast.
Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm, and Klaus Bachler took second with 30kg of success ballast, while the sister car of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, and Richard Lietz took third with 25kg after the Shahin received a drive-through for a track limits violation.
Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre still lead the Hypercar championship on 125 points; Molina, Nielsen, Fuoco and de Vries and Kobayashi tied on 113 points.
It could've been even better had #51 not had the issue that caused it to retire.
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Austin 02 September 2024
Ferrari leaves the Circuit of the Americas with a win and a third place, achieved by the 499P number 83, crewed by Yifei Ye, Robert Shwartzman, and Robert Kubica, and the 499P number 51, piloted by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen. Here are the comments at the end of round six of the FIA WEC 2024.
Nicklas Nielsen, 499P #50: “We secured third place, which, while leaving us with some regret as we were aiming for the top spot, still allowed us to gain valuable points for the standings. Now, we turn our focus to the next race at Fuji in a fortnight. Although the Japanese track may not be the one that best suits our 499P, we'll give it our all to keep our championship challenge alive.”
Antonio Giovinazzi, 499P #51: “The 499P number 83’s victory and the 51’s third place are outstanding results for which I congratulate the entire team. Unfortunately, we encountered a problem with our car, which forced us to retire. It’s a real shame, as we had an excellent weekend up to that point, even securing pole position. Now, we turn our focus to Fuji, where in a fortnight, we’ll have the chance to make up for and get back on track to prove our competitiveness once again.”
Yifei Ye, 499P #83: : I can’t describe what I am feeling. We began the weekend in the best possible way with a strong qualifying performance, and the race itself was flawless, with no mistakes from the team or us drivers. They are proud to be part of this extraordinary day for Ferrari, which has won in the FIA WEC and Formula 1 here in America and Italy. We have finally gained payback after the unfortunate race at Le Mans. This win repays us for so much effort and gives us confidence heading into the season’s final two races.”
Robert Shwartzman, 499P #83: “I am delighted; today, we have written a page of history for Ferrari and our team. It was a very difficult race. Toyota was a tough opponent and put us under a lot of pressure. However, in the end, we maintained our lead and achieved an outstanding result. I want to thank the entire team for their outstanding work and my teammates, who were really strong. After our retirement at Le Mans, where we were big contenders for so long, I’ve been waiting for a moment like this. Stepping onto the podium filled me with a unique emotion.”
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti: It was a remarkable day for Ferrari, which, following its earlier victory at Monza in Formula 1, also triumphed in the FIA WEC. We are delighted to have secured a third victory for the Prancing Horse, after the two fantastic ones at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year and in 2023, and the first one in the overall standings for the AF Corse client team with the 499P number 83. Congratulations to the entire team and the three drivers who successfully held off Toyota—a feat that was far from easy. Kubica’s strong start, Ye’s solid middle stint, and Shwartzman’s brilliant finish were truly memorable. We also leave Austin pleased about the excellent third place of the 499P number 50, driven by Fuoco, Molina, and Nielsen.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars:This is an exceptional day for Ferrari, with two victories in two world championships. We are all delighted to have placed two Prancing Horse cars on the podium, with one taking the top step here at COTA. As expected, it was a challenging race, but we executed it perfectly, extracting maximum performance from the car in every situation. However, there is still a lot of work to do to close the gap with our rivals completely, and that will be our focus starting tomorrow. Our one major regret is the withdrawal of the 499P No. 51 because of a mechanical failure following contact with a GT car.
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Ferrari appeal against Spa WEC result thrown out by court
Ferrari had appealed the classification after a controversial end
The results of the Spa 6 Hours World Endurance Championship round in May stand after Ferrari’s appeal of its failed protest was rejected by the FIA International Court of Appeal.
The decision of the court, announced on Tuesday after a hearing in Geneva last week, means that the #12 Jota Porsche 963 LMDh shared by Will Stevens and Callum Ilott has been confirmed as the winner of round three of the 2024 WEC at the Belgian venue.
The court upheld the decision of the stewards of the meeting to throw out the protest of the factory Ferrari AF Corse team against the decision to restart the race beyond the original scheduled finish time of the event and therefore the provisional classification.
The relevant decision, #71, was protested by Ferrari outside of the one-hour time limit laid down in the FIA International Sporting Code and therefore was “final and binding”.
The court additionally stated that Ferrari’s submissions “must be rejected as they are exclusively based on the argument that decision #71 breached the regulations and that ‘consequently’ the provisional classification, respectively the final classification, has to be amended”.
It stated that because Ferrari did not raise any further argument against the provisional classification “the appeal must be rejected on this point as well”.
It pointed out that the protest procedure is to allow one competitor to challenge another for an alleged breach of regulations.
But the court said that the stewards were “wrong to simply reject” the protest because their decisions cannot be challenged, stating that a challenge to the provisional results is expressly mentioned in the sporting code.
The ruling from the court ordered “the competent sporting authority [meaning the FIA] to draw, as appropriate, the consequences of this ruling”.
That is a reference to a clause in the WEC sporting code regarded as ambiguous by many, which states that the stewards can "stop and/or modify the race time set”.
“This may not exceed the time of the competition," it continues.
The stewards interpreted that as the duration of race rather than the timeframe in which it is scheduled to take place.
Ferrari has claimed that its protest was at least partially motivated to achieve a clarification of rules that resulted in an unprecedented extension of the timeframe of the race at Spa.
The need for extensive barrier repairs prevented the race being resumed after a red-flag stoppage within the original six-hour duration, but the stewards decided to restart the event beyond the scheduled 19:00 finish.
A further one hour and 44 minutes of racing — the remaining time on the clock at the stoppage minus the time it took for the cars to line up on the start-finish straight - began at 19:10.
The two factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars had been running 1-2 when the race was red-flagged after four hours and 13 minutes.
Ferrari ended up finishing third and fourth with its #50 and #51 cars after the winning #12 Jota Porsche and the second-placed #6 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport entry leapfrogged the Italian cars because the time they lost pitting just before the red flags was reduced when the field was closed up behind the safety car at the restart.
Nothing to see here people!
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