WEC - Ferrari at Le Mans 24 Hours with eight cars

Paris, 5 Feb 2016 - The World Endurance Championship (WEC) and European Le Mans Series (ELMS) were presented on Friday just a stone's throw from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris along with the names of the crews accepted for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.   Eight Ferraris to start. Eight Ferraris will start the most famous endurance race in the world. Three will be in the GTE-Pro class, where the 488 GTEs no. 31 and no. 71 AF Corsa will be joined by Ferrari no. 62 Risi Competizione. The other five Maranello cars, all 458 Italia GTEs, will be at the off in the GTE-Am class. Two cars will be flying the colours of AF Corse, one of which will be entrusted to the crew that will kick off the WEC season: François Perrodo, Rui Aguas and Emmanuel Collard. The other three will be for the three teams that have won Continental GT series: one for Formula Racing, the Danish team that won the ELMS 2015, one for Scuderia Corsa, champion in the IMSA class GTD (GT-Daytona) and another for Clearwater Racing, which earned its place in the Sarthe classic with a victory in the Asian Le Mans Series.   WEC. Two 488 GTEs and one 458 Italia will race the entire season in the World Endurance Championship. The 488s with their turbocharged engines, will be on track in the GTE-Pro class under the banner of AF Corse, with Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado in the traditional no. 51 and Sam Bird and Davide Rigon in the no. 71. However, Perrodo-Collard-Aguas will don the colours of AF Corse in the GTE-Am class at the wheel of the 458 Italia no. 83. Ferrari will again this season be competing against major manufacturers such as Porsche, Aston Martin, Chevrolet and newcomer Ford. The championship kicks off on 17 April at Silverstone.   ELMS. There will be five Ferraris in the European Le Mans Series, all 458 Italias. AF Corse will enter two cars, one of which will be driven by the reigning champions of Formula Racing, while Austrian team AT Racing will deploy the other. Then finally, there will be the 458 Italia of JMW Motorsport, which also has a pass for the Le Mans 24 hours as a reserve. This means that it may take part but will have to wait until the last to join the 58 crews of the world's most famous endurance race. The ELMS championship kicks off on 16 April at Silverstone.