The Ferrari 499P of Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen will start from pole position at the 6 Hours of Spa, the third round of the FIA WEC 2024, which begins tomorrow, Saturday, 11 May, at 1 p.m. (local time). The other Ferrari – AF Corse team car, number 51, will set off in eleventh position, while the number 83 Hypercar of the AF Corse team secured ninth place. Here are the post-qualifying comments.
Antonio Fuoco, driver 499P #50: “We did an excellent job today, and I am delighted to start from pole position at the 6 Hours of Spa. Given the rubber compounds available here at Spa, we knew qualifying wouldn’t be easy, but we focused during free practice on understanding how best to manage the tyres. I think this work was visible in qualifying and the Hyperpole. The result is the fruit of the hard work carried out by the entire team over recent weeks and here on track since the first practice session. The race? We know it will be tough, and we recognise the considerable strength of our opponents, but as always, we aim to do our best and achieve a great result.”
James Calado, driver 499P #51: “It was a challenging qualifying session for me. I made a few errors, particularly one in the middle sector, which cost me a place in the top 10 and the chance to compete in the Hyperpole. I congratulate Antonio (Fuoco, Ed), who set a great time and deserved pole position. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, I am confident and believe our team will be competitive. The 499P showed a quick race pace from the first free practice session.”
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti: “We are delighted with this pole position. It is the reaction we expected from the entire team after the Imola race.
Contrary to what we have often heard in recent months, today, we showed how capable we are of managing the tyres with our 499Ps, being the only ones to have set up the qualifying with two launch laps and one in which to seek the best lap time. So I can only be satisfied with the car's performance, the team's work and our strategy.
The only regret is that only some 499Ps are starting among the top ten Hypercars on the grid. Still, the qualifying was very competitive and access to the Hyperpole was decided by a matter of thousandths of a second. However, looking ahead to tomorrow's race, we are also optimistic about the 499P number 51, which showed an excellent race pace in free practice”.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars: “We are happy with the pole position achieved by the 499P number 50. Antonio Fuoco’s result is a testament to the excellent teamwork in mastering the Soft compound. The strategy of completing two preparation laps before pushing for a hot lap on the third attempt paid off because it allowed us to make the most of the tyre’s ‘peak’ performance. On the other hand, it is a bit of a pity for the other two cars: for the number 51, which failed to make the Hyperpole by a few thousandths, finishing eleventh, and for the 83, which, after a splendid performance in qualifying, could not set a time in the Hyperpole useful for the top positions.
Now, we need to focus on preparing for tomorrow’s race, which, given the competitiveness of the field, will undoubtedly be very hard-fought”.