Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni sealed another
win in the fourth round of the World Endurance
Championship (WEC) at the weekend at Silverstone. Fresh
from starring in the legendary Le Mans 24-Hour race, the
duo triumphed in the 6 Hours of Silverstone in the GT
PRO class at the wheel of the Ferrari 458 run by AF
Corse. They took the flag ahead of another car from the
Maranello manufacturer run by the JMW team in the hands
of James Walker and Jonny Cocker.
The historic Silverstone
circuit played host to the 6 Hour race which was round 4
on the WEC calendar. Five Ferraris were entered, with
much of the attention focused on the AF Corse entered
cars that did so well at the La Sarthe circuit two
months ago and currently lead the GT Pro classification.
The Italian team had two cars entered in this class, the
No. 51 in the hands of Fisichella and Bruni and the No.
71, driven by Andrea Bertolini and Olivier Beretta. AF-Waltrip
had another car running in the GTE-AM class, No. 61,
with Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Matt
Griffin taking turns at the wheel.
Qualifying was held in the wet and Fisichella and Bruni
posted the third fastest time in 2.10.481, with
Bertolini and Beretta fifth in 2.15.153. The JMW
Ferrari, crewed by Walker was second in 2.10.018,
although it had been fastest for much of the time until
an off-track excursion meant that honour went to the
Porsche of Richard Leitz, who stopped the clocks in
2.09.564. Cioci drove the AF-Waltrip car to third in
GTE-AM in 2.15.491.
Come the 6 hour race and the expected strategy based
around one pit stop fewer than their opponents and the
AF Corse team’s proficiency in refuelling allowed the
pair in the #51 car to take the lead of the race at the
end of the fourth hour and to maintain that advantage
right until the chequered flag despite two interruptions
for the safety car. The only pity was that Bertolini and
Beretta lost third place after contact with an opponent
on the final lap. That meant Ferrari missed out on
recording a one-two-three finish.
AF Corse was also the star of the GT Am class where the
team run by Amato Ferrari sealed another important
result, taking the top step of the podium with the car
driven by Perazzini, Cioci and Griffin. The racers in
the World Endurance Championship will be back in action
on September 15 in Brazil for the Sao Paulo Six-Hour
race, the fifth round of the eight in the calendar
before the series moves on to Bahrain and Japan, and
finally ending in Shanghai, China on 28 October.
