Ferrari AF Corse Hypercar sets pace

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Ferrari AF Corse set the fastest time yesterday in the official FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Rookie Test, held at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The crew of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Lilou Wadoux and Shwartzman Robert posted a best lap of one minute 48.559 seconds in their #51 Ferrari 499P Hybrid during the three-hour afternoon session.

They followed the #38 Porsche 963 Hybrid of Hertz Team JOTA driven by Norman Nato and William Stevens, who topped the times in the two-hour morning run.

The two-session testing took place at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” just hours after the WEC’s 2023 season-ending Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain.

There were 18 cars all together out on track with more than 30 drivers, including nine Hypercars, five LMP2s and four LMGTE Ams.

The FIA WEC Rookie Test is an annual event held at the end of the WEC season, featuring some of the series’ leading drivers and stars from other racing championships, along with up-andcoming young talents.

The Pier Guidi-Wadoux-Robert triumvirate completed 49 laps in their afternoon run and were the only car to dip below the 1:49.000 mark in the session.

Nato-Stevens followed 0.571s behind, while Proton Competition were third-fastest in their #99 Porsche 963 Hybrid, driven by Rene Binder, Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani.

Seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi had an impressive day behind the wheel of the Oreca 07-Gibson of Team WRT.

He and drive-partner Charles Weerts steered WRT’s #46 car to the top of the LMP2 category with a best lap of 1:54.302.

Clement Novalak in the #34 Oreca 07-Gibson of Inter Europol Competition followed, while Prema Racing’s PJ Hyett, Harry Tincknell and Mikkel Pedersen were third in class.

The LMGTE Am category saw Lorenzo Patrese and Davide Rigon set the pace in their #83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Richard Mille AF Corse.

AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, driven by Nicola Marinangeli and Rigon, followed on the timesheet; with Corvette Racing’s #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Nicky Catsburg, Antoine Doquin and Timur Boguslavskiy third.

In the morning tests, Nato-Stevens topped the times with a best lap of 1:48.625 in their Porsche.

Cadillac Racing’s #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, with Nicolas Varrone, Alex Lynn and Kyffin Simpson, was second-quickest 0.819s off the pace, while Pier Guidi-Wadoux-Robert were third 0.935s behind.

Leading the LMP2 class in the morning was Novalak.

He set a best time of 1:54.283. Rossi and Weerts followed on the timesheet, with both sharing the duties in WRT’s #46 and #41 Oreca 07-Gibsons.

Amongst the LMGTE Am runners, Patrese and Rigon were the pace-setters with a fastest lap of 1:59.024.

Catsburg-Doquin-Boguslavskiy and Marinangeli-Rigon completed the top three in class.