The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the season’s most important race. Drivers and teams have been preparing for it for a whole year. The race is also the third round of the Endurance World Championship, which awards double points as usual and often has a crucial bearing on the standings. After their victories in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am classes in 2021, the Ferrari 488 GTEs arrive at the French track aiming to return to the top step of the podium. Fifteen Prancing Horse cars, three in the Pro class and twelve in the Am class, will battle for victory.
LMGTE Pro. Following their triumph at Spa-Francorchamps, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado will reunite with Daniel Serra to reform the crew that won in 2019, fifty years after the first triumph in the French classic. The trio will take the wheel of AF Corse’s number 51 488 GTE, while Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Davide Rigon, returning to Le Mans after skipping the 2021 edition, will be in the number 52 twin car. “As always, Le Mans is highly anticipated. It’s the race everyone wants to win,” commented two-time winner Alessandro Pier Guidi. “Again, this year, we worked hard to prepare for the event because if you want any chance of victory, you need to be perfect. It wasn’t an easy task considering the parallel developments we are also carrying out on the GT3 and LMH front, but we have done and will do our best to cross the line in first position at the end of the 24 hours.”
LMGTE Am. Twenty-three cars will be competing in this class, which also features gentleman drivers. Twelve of these will be the 488 GTEs entered in the race by seven different teams, making Ferrari the constructor with the biggest presence on the grid. There are no changes to the line-ups that will set off on Saturday, at 4 p.m. local time, from the official entry list announced in recent weeks.
Museum. The Ferrari Museum in Maranello, already home to the exhibition "GT 2021, a memorable year" devoted to last year’s memorable season of triumphs, will allow its visitors to watch the spectacle of the 24 Hours of Le Mans live from 4pm on Saturday, with both extraordinary opening and closing times and special initiatives, such as connections with the French circuit to hear the voices of the protagonists. The Museum will close its doors at the stroke of midnight on Saturday and reopen at 7am on Sunday, but will offer the possibility of following the race without interruption in the Convention Hall by purchasing a special package, available subject to availability.
Celebratory video. One year after Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Côme Ledogar’s splendid victory in the LMGTE Pro class and François Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera’s in the LMGTE Am, and just a few days before the start of the 2022 edition, Ferrari presents “The Secret of Le Mans”, an original production telling the story of the unique connection between the Prancing Horse manufacturer and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The video presents the great French classic from a unique vantage point that allows us to relive the triumphant journey of the 488 GTEs through the testimony of the drivers and men of Ferrari Competizioni GT and is available on the Prancing Horse’s official YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/UKGvcaRitP0
Public. After the pandemic-related restrictions, the public will again take centre stage at Le Mans and are expected in record numbers. The traditional parade that will wend its way through the streets of the centre of the Sarthe provincial capital on Friday afternoon will offer drivers a taste of the cheering that will accompany them in the 24-hour race.
Schedule. Activities on the track will kick off on Wednesday 8 June with free practice from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., followed by the qualifying session from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., before the last two hours spent setting up the car, from 10 p.m. to midnight. On Thursday the 9th, the third free practice session will run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., while the Hyperpole will start at 8 p.m. From 10 p.m., the last two hours give the drivers a chance to get acquainted with night driving. Friday is the traditional rest day given over to the drivers’ parade, while on Saturday, after the 15-minute warm-up starting at 10.30 a.m., the French flag will be lowered over the participants to signal the start of the race at 4 p.m.