Alessandra Todeschini, the head of Competizioni GT at Ferrari, spoke to DSC at the launch of the new Ferrari 499P focusing on two important subjects:
Firstly, whether and when will there be availability for customer versions of the new factory car?
“There are people that are asking already if they could race in it with private teams.
“We will say today though that this is not the correct year, because we’re still under development and we feel it’s too much to place outside of the factory team at this point.
“Not only the technical part, but also our marketing, sponsor, operational and logistical partners. It’s a big programme for us [and] a big challenge ahead.”
So the 2023 programme will see just the two factory cars in the FIA WEC with the effort focused on establishing a winning formula of pace and reliability whilst, in the background, the support structures are established to accommodate what looks set to be an assured, if exclusive, 499P customer programme from as early as 2024.
In addition to the public statements from Guiseppe Risi that his Risi Competizione team are interested in evaluating a Ferrari 499P programme, DSC is aware of at least two other significant teams that have made active approaches to Ferrari along the same lines.
In the meantime though there’s another customer marketplace that most certainly will feature in the FIA WEC paddock in 2023 as Alessandra makes it clear that even to the point of the launch, sight unseen, the establishment of the Hypercar programme is attracting very significant interest from amongst the ranks of Ferrari’s most loyal and valuable road car customers with many keen to take the opportunity to see the 499P race in person:
“We will take care of all the passionate Ferrari customers that want to attend those events, creating an exclusive habitat for them where they can follow all the races and they can stay with us.
“We’ll give them the opportunity to meet the drivers, and many of the other team members, to really give them a new and exclusive experience and to get them to feel a part of the event.”
So in a departure for Ferrari’s approach to this point across the whole WEC, this car an this programme is going to bring customers to all of the races in the FIA WEC?
“Yes, I would say so – it has already created a lot of attention and, as of today nobody outside of the team had actually seen the car!”
Ferrari then look set to establish their own ‘Paddock Club’ focused on the new car, that’s a substantial step forward from the brand in on-event FIA WEC activation, and with other Hypercar brands suggesting that they too will be making efforts with their dealer networks and potential customers in the paddocks too, the WEC paddock could have a very different feel when the Hypercar class get into full flow.
