01 April 2017
Monza, 1 April 2017 – The first day of the prologue of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) took place at Monza on Saturday. The day, illuminated by bright sunshine after a cloudy start, was a productive one for all four Ferrari crews who in two weeks will take part in the first race of the World Championship at Silverstone in Great Britain.
GTE-Pro. In the GTE-Pro class the Ferrari 488 GTEs of AF Corse completed the planned number of laps optimising the work on the set-ups and making progress with the Michelin tyre programme. James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi took turns in car no. 51, while Miguel Molina assisted Davide Rigon in no. 71. Molina will drive the 488 GTE-Pro car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans while for the rest of the championship he will compete in the GTE-Am class with Switzerland's Thomas Flohr and Italy's Francesco Castellacci.
GTE-Am. Flohr and Castellacci were the fastest in GTE-Am class, confirming that the crew of car no. 54, two-thirds of which was making its debut (only Castellacci has already competed in the WEC) will be in the mix for the title. The 488 GTE of Clearwater Racing used the session to acclimatise to the environment given that, aside from a run out at Le Mans in 2016, the team is making its debut in this championship.
April Fool. In the morning, while the drivers were at the briefing the Fords and Ferraris were swapped as an April Fools joke, much to the amazement of the crews who returned from the meeting to find two intruders in their pits. Everyone had a good laugh... The second and final day of testing is on Sunday.