The Ferrari - AF Corse team will start from third and fourth on the grid at the 6 Hours of Portimão, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The result came at the end of qualifying held at the track in Algarve (Portugal) where the no. 50 Ferrari 499P, driven by Nicklas Nielsen, set the third fastest time, with a 0’327 margin over the no. 51 Hypercar driven by James Calado.
Nicklas Nielsen, 499P #50: “It was a good qualifying session, I am happy with the lap I completed. Obviously, we would have preferred to be closer than Toyota, but we did everything we could. Anyway, we are satisfied with our 499P and are now looking forward to tomorrow’s race: it will be very long, but we will be starting from a good position”.
James Calado, 499P #51: “We could have shown more potential than we did in qualifying. After the third free practice session there was a change in the overall balance of the car, which was especially noticeable in the first corner and in the main braking sections, phases in which I missed the chance to set a good lap on the first attempt while the tyres were still fresh”.
Antonello Coletta, Head of Attività Sportive GT: “We are satisfied with the third and fourth fastest times, which is the best result we could have hoped for today. We worked hard ahead of the race, although not for the qualifying, something that is clear from the gap from Toyota, which is a significant one”.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of GT & Sports Race Cars: “We are satisfied with the result of qualifying. Compared to Sebring, we didn’t want to check the performance limits of the 499P on a dry lap, but rather we worked throughout the sessions to try to optimise the car performance for the actual race. We therefore knew that it would be tough to be in the fight for pole position. Starting from the second row is therefore a good result and gives us high hopes for tomorrow’s race”.