Davide Rigon had a very mixed season alongside James Calado in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari during this year’s FIA WEC campaign.
On one hand, the duo improved dramatically, reducing the gap to the sister #51 car which is always in contention for wins. But on the other, Calado and Rigon failed to score a single victory (aside from being the highest finishing WEC Pro car at Le Mans, though not winning outright they did take (double) maximum WEC points!).
After their performances throughout 2015, the pair left Bahrain at the end of the season feeling certain that they deserved one. Instead, Porsche took the GTE Pro class title, and with it, wins in the final four races of the year. That’s by no means an indicator for 2016 however, as the brand new Ferrari 488 GTE will debut and if all goes to plan, vault AF Corse to the top its class.
Rigon, the three-year AF Corse vet out of Thiene, Vicenza, Italy clearly recognises this, and sat down with Stephen Kilbey at the Gulf 12 Hours earlier this month to reflect on his breakout year in the series and look on to the brand new era for Ferrari in GTE.
Let’s look back at the 2015 season Davide, and in particular, at the big step up that you and James took?
“It was very close this year between us and the #51, the car was almost the same, I think that Ferrari believe in us as much as they do with the #51. The best thing with the Pro class in the WEC that there’s so many experienced drivers, even Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander in our other car, are clearly two of the best drivers in the world in GT racing, you just learn so much! It’s very tough though, just beating our teammates.
“James and I also cooperate a lot, more than before, especially during the season, and to be honest we didn’t get the results we hoped for because of luck, not effort.
“Last year at the end of the season we had a lot of luck, lots of podiums, but this year we had podiums but didn’t win one race. We should have won at least one, but we didn’t because of the weather, issues with the car, things like that. Next year is a new challenge though with the 488, so we have to think about continuing to learn and taking the next step.”
Did the 458 feel old this year, did it feel like you got everything you could out of it by the end of the season?
“We continued to work on the 458 all the way to the end of the season. There was another department that was working on the 488, but we were concentrated on the car in front of us and getting the maximum out of it. The problem we had was that the BoP wasn’t great for the Ferraris this year, but we don’t want to talk about it, we let others decide.
“After the Nurburgring we didn’t expect that the Porsche was going to be so quick, I have to say thanks to Ferrari though, because by the end of the year we were close to them once again, sometimes quicker, like at Fuji; and ok, the #51 won at Fuji, but we got pole and if it was dry I think we would have taken that one.
“We worked a lot on the 458, even though we knew it was time for a new generation, and we knew that it wouldn’t be long before we got to try out the 488.”
It was in many ways a tough season, because you were so much better as a pair, but didn’t win any races. What was it like being alongside James Calado through all this though? What’s been the key to his improvement this year?
“He was always a talented driver before, but I think he’s become a good GT driver now. He was very good last year but he made mistakes, ones that cost us a lot of time. Now he’s more consistent, especially over a single stint which is so vital in our category, it’s about aiming for a lap time and trying to produce it over and over.
“James has also grown a lot; I think I’v played a part in that. We really work together, and he copies me now in some ways like I copy him. We try to put everything together at each circuit, which works for us as a pair.
“I hope to stay with him next year, if we do we can become World Champions.”
A lot of winning the title will depend on the new car too, so let’s talk a bit more about the 488 then. How much running have you had in the car?
“We have all driven it quite a lot, we’ve done some tests. The car is good but I can’t say yet just how it will stack up against the other new cars, like the Ford GT especially. Nobody will know until the season starts next year.
“The car looks good though, it looks consistent, but we need to wait.”
The big topic this year seems to be a shift to aero development over sheer horsepower, how different does the 488 feel in that respect?
“Yeah, with the regs you can have more downforce, for me and James I think it’s good for us because we have come from single-seaters. To be honest now it’s not that far from driving a Formula 3 car; it’s really fun, it’s fantastic to drive because of that, you can really feel the lateral Gs!
“Physically the car is harder to drive though because it’s overall a quicker car, but it’s going to be the same for everybody because of the regs and the downforce allowances.”
Did you and the rest of AF Corse’s WEC driver roster have a developmental role with the 488? Did you have any major input?
“Everybody is working on the car but I can not say that the direction of the car will go one way or the other way because of individual drivers. Everyone does their best in testing but it’s Ferrari who choose the direction of the car and its setup.
“When we get the cars and the season starts, that’s when we start to shape it to our driving styles. I’m really looking forward to it!”
Stephen Kilbey
Rigon portrait & podium photo credit: Jakob Ebrey
