It is difficult to win but even harder to repeat. This is the challenge facing AF Corse in the LMGTE Pro category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022, a race it won in 2021. The Italian team will field two Ferrari 488 GTEs.
The team. AF Corse and Ferrari have been partners for ten years, jointly writing some of the most exciting chapters in the history of the FIA WEC. In 2012, the series’ debut year, AF Corse claimed the title and victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 2013 and 2014 saw two historic clean sweeps with the constructors’, drivers’ and teams’ titles: a hat-trick repeated in 2017. They took the Constructors’ championship in 2016, while in 2019, the team celebrated the seventieth anniversary of Ferrari’s first victory at Le Mans from the top step of the podium. Then, in 2021, they won both the LMGTE Pro and the Am.
Number 51 crew. Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Côme Ledogar car crossed the line first in the LMGTE Pro in the number 51 at the last 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year, Daniel Serra will take the French driver’s place. The Brazilian is not new to AF Corse, having supported the Piacenza-based team in three races in the 2018-2019 season, helping them win the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019. However, the Brazilian drove in the number 52 crew at the last edition. Pier Guidi and Calado come from their recent victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Number 52 crew. Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Davide Rigon will share the wheel of the number 52 Ferrari. Only the Spanish driver remains of the 2021 crew, partnered in the last edition by Briton Sam Bird and, as mentioned, Brazilian Serra, this year in the number 51 car. Molina has a trophy cabinet full of achievements, the most precious being victory in the Spa 24 Hours. This year he races in the WEC and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
At 26 years of age, Antonio Fuoco already boasts a wide range of motorsport experience, including last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of the Ferrari 488 GTE of Cetilar Racing. For his part, Rigon has plenty of experience at the wheel of Ferraris in major international championships. He began 2022 with victory in the 4 Hours of Dubai in the Asian Le Mans Series and second place in the Daytona 24 Hours.