The
curtain came down yesterday on the eightieth Le Mans 24
Hours, the classic endurance race held at La Sarthe,
which was also the third round of the FIA World
Endurance Championship. The AF Corse Ferrari team has
added its name to the list of Le Mans winners, thanks to
a GTE Pro class victory for Giancarlo Fisichella,
Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, at the end of a
perfectly managed race that had started on the back
foot, after the car was badly damaged in an accident in
free practice on Wednesday.
AF Corse was the only Italian team entered in the most
important endurance race in the world and its Ferrari
took the lead in the tenth hour, staying there to the
chequered flag. Their dominance was such that the
drivers were able to manage their lead in the final
hours, thus running calmly to the end to stand on the
topmost step of the podium, to the great satisfaction of
Ferrari and the team, the latter thus getting their name
on the winners’ roll of honour for the first time at La
Sarthe.
Runner-up was another Maranello machine, run by Luxury
Racing in the hands of a crew made up of Frederic
Makowiecki, Dominik Farnbacher and Jaime Melo, thus
confirming the excellent performance of our cars. Fourth
in class was the other AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT2, No. 71,
driven by Marco Cioci, Andrea Bertolini and Olivier
Beretta.
In the GTE AM category, the best of the Ferraris entered
was the Krohn Racing teama car (Niclas Jonsson, Michele
Rugolo and Tracy Krohn) which finished on the podium in
third, while a sixth place went to crew made up of
Robert Kauffman, Rui Aguas and Brian Vickers, entered by
AF Corse-Waltrip. Unfortunately, the AF Corse Ferrari
No. 81 (Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Niki Cadei and Matt
Griffin) did not make it the finish, retiring after an
accident.
The excitement
following this amazing win just achieved at Le Mans and
the awareness that it’s a truly important result, down
to the work of the team, has united the comments of the
drivers who delivered this great result. It was a case
of joy and satisfaction for Fisichella, who had this to
say after crossing the line: “This is the most important
race of the year and at the end of it, we achieved our
objective. The win was especially down to the incredible
efforts of the AF Corse guys who had to change the
chassis after the accident on Wednesday, delivering a
car that was better than anyone could have expected. I
did not think I would be make it out on track for the
final twenty minutes of qualifying, however thanks to
their efforts, the miracle happened. Thanks guys, thank
you to Amato and to Ferrari…and to everyone who
contributed to this win.”
The 24 Hours is the most sought after prize in the
career of a driver, even for a race veteran like
Vilander. “Today, we have taken the most important win
in the GT class. Ferrari and AF Corse did a great job of
preparing for it and they were incredible when it came
to repairing the car in practice. We all believed, from
start to finish and this is the result.”
One of those who believed in it the most was definitely
Bruni, who inevitably thought back to the disappointment
of 2011, citing it as a something that spurred him on
this tIme. “After what happened last year, when we lost
the race in the final hour, this year was a nice
revenge. The win came thanks to a long period of
preparation and testing which kept us busy all year. The
mechanics were fantastic and my team-mates were perfect.
That’s the only way to win a 24 hour race, all working
together. Also after the accident, the team did not get
demoralized and out on track, we did our bit to pay them
back for their efforts.”
“It is an important
victory, in an important race which has always been
important in the history of Ferrari,” Luca di
Montezemolo. “It further pleases me that two Italians,
Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni stood on the top
step of the podium, along with Toni Vilander. This
one-two at Le Mans proves that the amazing 458 is truly
competitive. My congratulations and those of everyone at
Ferrari go to the AF Corse team, its engineers,
mechanics and naturally, its drivers.”
Congratulations for
the team run by Amato Ferrari came from Jean-Jacques
His, Ferrari’s head of Engines, just days after the
company’s V8 had been awarded the “Best Performance
Engine” prize, for the second year running at the
“International Engine of the Year Awards.” “I am
particularly pleased with this amazing result,”
commented His. “And I want to congratulate the entire
team and the drivers for their performance in this
important race. I am very happy that, in such a
demanding race, we have demonstrated the quality of our
engine, in terms of efficiency and performance. A
further confirmation of that came from the fact a
Ferrari entered by Luxury Racing took second place and,
just like the Italian team, also had an excellent race.”
The head of Corse Clienti, Antonello Coletta was
justifiably proud of the amazing win. “This victory was
down to the company and the excellent performance
demonstrated by our cars in such a demanding race. It
was even more special, as it came thanks to the efforts
of the AF Corse team that showed great professionalism
in rebuilding a car from scratch and ensuring it was
competitive, after the major accident in free practice
and finally the win is also a success for the Corse
Clienti department which for the third time in its
history has won this prestigious race (in 2008 and 2009
with Risi Competizione and now this year with AF Corse).
Italy has returned to winning ways at La Sarthe with a
victory that came from an Italian team, thanks to the
talents of a predominantly Italian driver line-up. I am
proud therefore that Ferrari has contributed to
delivering this really important result.”
|
|
|
