It will be two Ferrari 499Ps that will start on the front row at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will see basketball player LeBron James give the start. It's an extraordinary result that puts Ferrari back on pole position in the world's most famous race, and one that has all the drivers and team engineers excited. We collected the voices of the protagonists.
Antonio Fuoco: “It’s something special to take pole position in a race that marks Ferrari’s return to the top endurance class of the most famous race. I think the entire team has done something fantastic in enabling our two Hypercars to take the front row. Now we’re enjoying this moment. We all deserve it, but we know we have a long and challenging race ahead of us. We’ll have to stay very focused and give our all”.
Nicklas Nielsen: “It feels amazing to start from pole position: it was an awesome job by Antonio, and an awesome job by the sister car as we are coming here with a brand new car, on the first time that we race here, and being able to make a front row lockout it’s something really amazing. I’m very proud of the whole team, they have been working so hard to bring the car to where it is today. I think Antonio took everything out of that lap even if he had a bit of traffic and somehow this made it even better! Now we are focusing on the race even if we are really happy with qualifying, because we know we have a long race ahead of us”.
Miguel Molina: "It's incredible. The whole team has worked hard to achieve this result, which is very important for all of us. We know that the race will be long, but it was important to start well. From now on we will be focused on the race. What we have done so far is part of history".
Alessandro Pier Guidi: “As a team, I don’t think there was a better way to return to Le Mans. Securing a red front row repays us all for the hard work we’ve put in over the past year without a break and always focused on our goals. My first attempt went very well, but I hit some traffic on my second one, and the lap wasn’t ideal for trying to improve the time”.
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti: “We are delighted with this result, fifty years after our previous appearance in the top class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Tonight after the Hyperpole, we are enjoying a fantastic moment, the fruit of exceptional work. From tomorrow we will think about the race, which will be long, and where several factors, first and foremost reliability, could prove decisive. I want to thank the entire team, from the technicians to the mechanics to the sporting and commercial areas. The immense effort put in by everyone has allowed us to be where we are less than a year after our 499P’s first shakedown”.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars: “Taking first and second place in the Hyperpole is an indescribable feeling. The credit goes to the entire team, from the drivers to the mechanics and engineers who enabled us to achieve this, something not just the result of one day but of months of intense work. We are incredibly proud but know there’s still a long way to go. The 24 Hours of Le Mans won’t be a easy race. There will be many key factors, starting with reliability, because these hypercars are complex, and attention to detail will prove decisive. We’ll also need to pay special attention to the choice of tyres and at the same time correctly read the weather, which will be variable from start to finish, according to the current forecast”.