Comments after 6 Hours of Portimão

Ferrari bade farewell to Portugal with second place for the 499P number 50 crewed by Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen, and sixth for Pier Guidi-Calado-Giovinazzi in the number 51 Hypercar. Here are the comments after the 6 Hours of Portimão, round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Nicklas Nielsen, 499P #50: “We are delighted. We secured a very positive result here at Portimão, taking another step forward from the first race at Sebring. We were also lucky during the race when one of the two Toyotas had a problem and, at that point, did our best and consolidated second position. Now the goal is to continue on this path at the 6 Hours of Spa, a race that will be both beautiful and complicated.”

James Calado, 499P #51: “I am disappointed with the result. We had a brake problem when Antonio climbed into the Hypercar, and for most of the race, we tried to manage it. It’s a shame because we could have aimed for the podium up to that point. Our pace was good compared to the other cars. We’re trying to stay positive and are already thinking about the next outing in Belgium.”

Antonello Coletta, Head of Attività Sportive GT: “Second place represents an excellent performance and a further step forward over the third step of the podium on the debut. We know there’s still a long way to go, and our opponents are very strong. Here at Portimão, we had a problem with the 499P number 51 that stopped us from finishing with a double podium, which would have been an outstanding result. We go away happy but aware that we must continue to work, especially on reliability.”

Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of GT & Sports Race Cars: “We are satisfied with second place, but at the same time, it’s a shame that we had a few problems with the number 51 car, which meant we had to manage the race. Both 499Ps made it to the finish line, which is a positive result, but our lost positions prevented us from climbing the podium with both crews. There is still much work to be done before we can aim for victory, so we’ll have to stay focused and work hard.”