WEC - Ferrari on the podium at the 6 Hours of Mexico

Mexico City, 3 September 2016 – Ferrari left Mexico with two podiums at the end of a race in which the drivers and the entire AF Corse team gave their all. In the GTE-Pro class a perfect strategy when the rain began to fall over the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, enabled the 488 no. 51 of Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado, and the no. 71 of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon, to gain several places. In GTE-Am class the 458 Italia of François Perrodo, Rui Aguas and Emmanuel Collard took second place after starting in penultimate position.   GTE-Pro. In the GTE-Pro class James Calado and Sam Bird fell back at the start due to the low top speed of the 488. Then at the end of the first lap, Calado came into contact with the Ford no. 66 and was overtaken by Bird. The two Aston Martins easily stretched their lead over the other cars with the no. 95 crewed by Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen ahead of the no. 97 of Richie Stanaway and Darren Turner. The Ferraris swapped positions at the first pit stop, with Bruni ahead of Rigon. However, the driver of car no. 51 suffered a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits and ended up at the back of the group. Halfway through the race car no. 71 was fifth in front of no. 51. But then after another half an hour strong but not torrential rain began to fall, at which point the AF Corse crew adopted a bold strategy. No rain tyres were fitted on either car at the pit stops and this enabled them to overtake the Porsche no. 88 and Ford no. 67 as the track conditions improved. A little later the Aston Martin no. 95 hit the barriers, slipping from 2nd to 4th, behind the two Ferraris. Calado, author of a double stint and a champion's performance in the wet with dry tyres, and finally Bruni, managed to hold off a comeback by Aston Martin no. 95 which, with Sorensen at the wheel, overtook Rigon 70 minutes from the end.   GTE-Am. The only Ferrari in the GTE-Am class, the 458 Italia by AF Corse of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Aguas, had to fight back the whole race. Starting from penultimate position with Collard driving, after two hours the car was in a fight for the podium with François Perrodo at the wheel and then, with Rui Aguas, even managed to take the lead. However, in the end, the Porsche no. 88 of Khaled Al Qubaisi, Patrick Long and David Heinemeier-Hansson fought back winning the race in class. Collard, Perrodo and Aguas finished second, but still top the championship standings. The overall victory went to Porsche of Bernhard-Webber-Hartley.