Ferrari have announced the six drivers who will represent them as the manufacturer returns to prototype sports car racing.
There will be two Ferrari 499P Hypercars on the World Endurance Championship grid, each shared during a race by three drivers.
The first car, number 50, will be shared by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. The former pair will continue a race-winning partnership they began last year as they shared a Ferrari 488 in WEC’s GTE class.
Fuoco was a Ferrari junior during his time in junior single-seaters, winning in Formula 3, GP3 and Formula 2 then becoming a test and simulator driver for Ferrari in F1. For the last two years he has been incorporated into Ferrari’s sports car line-ups too, and has won in IMSA and WEC.
Molina reached Superleague Formula in his single-seater career, and was a winner in Formula Renault 3.5 before that. However the Spaniard is best known for his race-winning seven-year spell driving Audis in the DTM.
Since 2017 he has raced for AF Corse, the factory-supported Italian team that is Ferrari’s official representation in several championships and will run their 499Ps in WEC. Molina scored a GT3 title in the USA and a GTE title in the European Le Mans Series during that time and will make his prototype racing debut this year.
Nielsen is another factory Ferrari driver who is being promoted from a GT seat, but he also has prototype experience as he won the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Pro/Am Drivers for AF Corse last year. He has two WEC titles, one ELMS title and a Le Mans 24 Hours win in the GTEAm class.
Ferrari’s second 499P will be driven by James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Calado and Pier Guidi have been sharing cars since 2016, and together they have won three WEC GTE Pro titles, the Le Mans 24 Hours twice and Petit Le Mans once in the top GTE class.
Ferrari’s long-time F1 reserve driver Giovinazzi, who is to continue in that role, will also be the most experienced prototype racer in the car having made three LMP2 starts in 2016. All three drivers of the number 51 499P have top-level single-seater experience as Calado raced in Formula E, Pier Guidi appeared in A1 Grand Prix and Superleague Formula, while Giovinazzi spent three seasons with Alfa Romeo in F1.
