The press conference for the head of Ferrari Endurance and Corse Clienti Antonello Coletta, held at the end of the 2023 Ferrari Finali Mondiali at Mugello yesterday, threw up a number of very interesting matters.
Prime amongst them was the revelation that Ferrari is now willing to support a programme for a third Ferrari 499P as early as 2024, if not then in 2025.
“We considered the possibility after Le Mans and whilst our primary concentration is on better performances and more wins in the FIA WEC,” he said, “we now feel ready to say that we would be able to support, with the necessary technical package, a programme for a third car.”
Ferrari has repeatedly made it clear that the complexities of the 499P would require significant factory technical input for any customer team wishing to run the car.
Ferrari sources added later that this would not be a third factory car, but instead confirmation that Ferrari would be prepared to support a privately entered effort. Crucially, this would be a possibility only in the FIA WEC at present. Ferrari has also further clarified that such support is now available for a full-season car.
Those latter points knotted in with another question posed at the conference. When might we see a Ferrari programme targeting an overall win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona?
The answer was pretty unequivocal. There will be no Ferrari GTP effort in IMSA, or in one-off races, in 2024.
Stateside Ferrari fans though should be encouraged. Ferrari is now showing more confidence than it was even just weeks ago in an expansion of its ability to support an additional programme, even if, for now at least, that will only be in the WEC should a programme come forward for next season.
As far as a privately-entered WEC team, whilst no firm plans are known as yet, it seems unlikely that such a statement would have been made if there was no prospect of a programme.
Rumours have been circulating for some time of the potential for the current AF Corse-Richard Mille Racing GTE AM effort to ‘graduate’ to Hypercar. With official Ferrari factory driver Lilou Wadoux (who currently competes in the Richard Mille 488 GTE) testing the factory 499P at the Bahrain ‘Rookie’ test next week, let the games begin!
