This weekend will a very strong show from Ferrari at the legendary circuit of Le Mans in the Sarthe region. In addition to the eight Ferrari GTE cars, the crowds can also enjoy a 45 minute race (with compulsory pit stop) from the Ferrari Challenge Europe.
In the LM GTE Pro category the prancing horse will be represented by three cars, two entered by AF Corse and one by JMW. The clear favorite must be with last years winners in car #51 Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Matteo Malucelli. A strong group that have shown well in practice.
In the second AF Corse Pro-car #71 is the regular WEC pairing of Toni Vilander and Kamui Kobayashi the latter making his first appearance here. FIA GT winner and ALMS champion Olivier Beretta completes the trio here. We are well prepared, said Amato Ferrari, AF Corse Team Principal. We have the best drivers, our cars have the best preparation we could give them and we will have to try our hardest to beat the competition. We just hope that the rain stays away, but we are prepared for both.
The third pro-car #66 is entered by British team JMW, The team is led by experienced Italian driver Andrea Bertolini and he is joined by rookie Khaled Al Qubaisi from the UAEthe winner of the Dubai 24 Hours in 2012 and 2013completing the driver line up is Abdulaziz al Faisal from Saudi Arabia back for his second attempt at Le Mans. After an accident in free practice the car has undergone an extensive rear end re-build.
In the ever popular GTE-AM category, where Gentleman Drivers are able to compete alongside their professional team-mates there are five Ferrari. Three again come from the AF Corse Team - #54 has an all-Rookie driver line up. All former Ferrari challenge drivers Howard Blank, Yannick Mallegol and Jean-Marc Bachelier. The #55 car has drivers with a mix of experience Lorenzo Case will enjoy his rookie race after impressive appearances in the Dubai 24 Hours and the Italian GT championship and as if 24 Hours of racing was not enoughhe will also compete in the Ferrari Challenge support race. He is joined by experienced Hong Kong driver Darryl OYoung and Piergiuseppe Perazzini in his third Le Mans adventure. Completing the AF Corse lineup is #61 with rookie Jack Gerber from South Africa being joined by highly experienced Italian Marco Cioci who finished fourth in the Pro category in 2012. The final man of the trio is Irish man Matt Griffin in his second Le Mans.
Krohn Racing lead by charismatic American Tracy Krohn have had a torrid time leading up to the race with two heavy crashes with Krohn at the wheel. They now struggle to re-build the car in time from a donor machine so he, Niclas Jonsson and Maurizio Mediani can take part in the race. The Ferrari endurance grid is completed by the American entered 8 Star Motorsport #81 car in which Australian V8 Supercar star Jason Bright will make his Le Mans debut. He is joined by Vicente Potolicchio and Rui Aguas who finished 6th in this category last year.
QuaFriday will see the drivers parade in downtown Le Mans and the race is flagged away at 15:00 on Saturday. One thing is sure the Ferrari teams will be doing all they can to gallop over the finish line in first place.
