Antonio Giovinazzi believes Ferrari could have one of the best hope of “surviving” Sunday’s World Endurance Championship race at Fuji after a difficult qualifying session for each factory crews.
Giovinazzi struggled to a Twelfth-place finish within the No. 51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar in the primary segment of qualifying on Saturday, losing nearly seven-tenths of a second to Alex Lynn within the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R.
The sister Ferrari #50 driven by Antonio Fuoco advanced to the Hyperpole, however the 28-year-old missed out on pole, ending a distant seventh on the grid.
Ferrari struggled at Fuji Speedway in its debut season last yr, with each of the team's cars ending inside a lap of the winning Toyota, and Giovinazzi fears the Italian marque will suffer one other frustrating result when it returns to the 4.5km circuit.
Asked to clarify Ferrari's poor qualifying performance, Giovinazzi told Motorsport.com: “The pace was simply not there. I did one of the best I could, however the automobile was difficult to drive in qualifying. We don't start from [good] starting position, however it's a protracted race, so let's see what we are able to do tomorrow.
“It wasn't the pace we had in Austin, which was better. For some reason we struggled here last year and we struggled here again this year. So it's not our track.”
He added: “We have a lot of cars that are better than us – BMW, Alpine, Toyota and Porsche of course – so it will be a difficult race tomorrow. Let's survive and see where we end up.”
The #50 Ferrari of Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen are fighting for the championship, 12 points behind the #6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer with two races remaining.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo: Andreas Beil
Estre qualified the #6 Porsche in fifth place, while the #7 Toyota crew, who’re level on points with the #50 Ferrari, ultimately finished fourth within the hands of Kamui Kobayashi.
Fuoco said Ferrari's aim must be to tackle their biggest title rivals with a purpose to secure one of the best possible position ahead of the season finale in Bahrain in November.
“As always, we are here to try to do the maximum and tomorrow we will try to fight,” he said. “Fortunately, the riders who will fight for the championship are right in front of us and we [will] “Let's try to fight them if we have the chance.”
Asked what result can be for Ferrari on Sunday, Fuoco said: “Survive. Try to finish in the top five.”
Asked further if this was realistic, he added: “Not really, but we always try to make it work.”
Additional information: Gary Watkins
