Ferrari will proceed its unchanged Hypercar class driver line-up in next 12 months's World Endurance Championship.
Antonello Coletta, head of sports automotive racing at Ferrari, confirmed on Sunday that in 2025 Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina will race the No. 50 Hypercar, the 499P Le Mans Hypercar, and for a 3rd time James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi wearing number 51 for the second season in a row.
The announcement made in the course of the Ferrari World Finals regarding the single-make challenge series at Imola followed the news on Saturday that Fuoco and Molina had renewed their factory contracts for next 12 months.
This time last 12 months, Calado and Pier Guidi's contracts were prolonged.
Coletta has clarified that there isn’t any reason for factory team AF Corse to make changes to the motive force line-up for the third season within the WEC.
“It has been confirmed: numbers 50 and 51 will not change – we will have the same drivers,” he said. “The No. 50 and No. 51 can be the exact same.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo: JEP / Motorsport Images
“We are glad with the teams: we won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with each of them [with #51 in 2023 and #50 in ’24]”
Coletta stressed the importance of “consistency and continuity” for the drivers within the Hypercar team.
“When we started with the 499P and selected our GT pilots, some people weren't happy,” he continued.
“But even the skeptics had to change their minds. All six 499P drivers won Le Mans, which I think validates our choices.”
Unconfirmed drivers for satellite No. 83, operated by AF Corse on behalf of a client and operated this 12 months by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman
Coletta said she hopes to “announce it just before the race in Bahrain”[thisyear'sWECfinalon2November[tegorocznyfinałWECodbędziesię2listopada[thisyear’sWECfinalon2November
He has ruled out Arthur Leclerc, brother of Ferrari F1 driver Charles, racing the automotive next 12 months, despite the fact that he’s scheduled to check certainly one of the 499Ps on the WEC rookie test in Bahrain the day after the season finale.
Coletta explained that the younger Leclerc brother, who’s a development driver for the F1 team, has yet to learn sports automotive racing.
This 12 months, Ferrari has placed him within the endurance segment of the Italian GT Championship, which he participates in alongside his LMP2 appearances within the European Le Mans Series with Panis Racing.
“Our goal is for Arthur to continue to learn endurance so that maybe in the future there will be an opportunity to pursue an opportunity in one of our prototypes,” Coletta said.
Davide Rigon, Alessio Rovera, Daniel Serra and Lilou Wadoux, who’re a part of Ferrari's factory GT3 driver line-up, have also prolonged their contracts for next 12 months.
