AF CORSE (ITA)

 

Team Principal: Amato Ferrari

Team manager: Battistino Pregliasco

Technical director: Giuseppe Pettrota

Base: Piacenza (ITA)

www.afcorse.it

 

2015 FIA WEC results: 2nd FIA Endurance Trophy for the best LM GTE Am Team (148 points, 1 victory)

2015 ELMS results: 3rd in LM GTE teams’ championship (63 points)
 

2016 FIA WEC results:

6 Hours of Silverstone:  Perrodo/Collard/Aguas (FRA/FRA/PRT), Ferrari 458 Italia #83 22nd(1st LM GTE Am)

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: Perrodo/Collard/Aguas (FRA/FRA/PRT), Ferrari 458 Italia #83, 20th (2nd LM GTE Am).

 

 

 

     This team is managed by former racing driver, Amato Ferrari, no relation to Enzo, even though he enters cars bearing the Prancing Horse badge. In 1995, he began working as a team manager, and he was then asked to look after the organisation of the Maserati Trophy between 2003 and 2005. AF Corse made its first appearance in 2004 when it gave the Maserati MC12 its debut winning two out of the four races (Oschsleberen in Germany and Zhuhai in China) in which it took part. In 2005, the team returned to the Italian Championship and bagged the GT3 title with a Maserati Trofeo Light. Since then, it has competed in the FIA GT Championship with considerable success with a Ferrari F430 GTC with which AF Corse won the GT2 category in the 2006 Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours, as well as the title with Melo and Bobbi as drivers. This victory gave it an invitation for the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours in what was its maiden outing in the Sarthe. It finished twenty-second overall and fourth in LM GT2 with the drivers and sponsors of JMB Racing. In addition, the team racked up another title in FIA GT2 with nine victories in ten races! AF Corse scored its hat trick in FIA GT in 2008 thanks to five wins by Bruni and Vilander. It was less successful at Le Mans where steering problems eliminated Vilander-Biagi-Montanari. In 2009, AF Corse again defended Ferrari’s interests in FIA GT, winning the GT2 teams’ title with the help of three victories by Bruni-Vilander, including the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours. At Le Mans, Bruni-Perez Companc-Russo came home in twenty-sixth place (6th in GT2).

     In 2010, with the help of former F1 stars, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jean Alesi, AF Corse had a good debut season in the Le Mans Series as its two lead cars finished second and third in LM GT2. In addition, the Italian team made a big contribution to the GT2 Manufacturers’ title for Ferrari in the 2010 ILMC. The highest-placed of its cars (Alesi-Fisichella-Vilander) finished sixteenth overall in the Le Mans 24 Hours (4th in GT2).

     In 2011, the Ferrari satellite squad entered two cars for the full ILMC, a brand-new 458 Italia in GTE Pro/AM for Fisichella and Bruni, backed up by Pierre Kaffer at Sebring, and the previous year’s F430 for Perazzini and Cioci. The following season was a very successful one for Ferrari’s official representative in a hotly-contested category. Fisichella-Bruni emerged victorious in four of the 7 races winning the manufacturers’ title in LM GTE Am for Ferrari and the one for teams in LM GTE Pro for AF Corse. In the LMS it was the same story with the drivers’ title for the two former F1 aces who shared the same number of points. The only win that escaped AF Corse was Le Mans where its cars were beaten by the Corvettes.

     In 2012 the Italian squad entered for the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours. It also beefed up its team with a second F458 Italia for the very quick duo Beretta, a Corvette stalwart in the previous seasons, and Bertolini backed up by Cioci in the long-distance races. The early part of the year didn’t go according to plan as Fisichella-Bruni-Vilaner retired at Sebring while Bereta-Bertolini-Cico just missed out on victory behind Corvette and BMW after an intense battle in the closing stages. At Spa the cars saw the flag in second and fourth places behind the works Porsche.  At Le Mans AF Corse had another no-holds-barred battle in the LM GTE Pro category and Ferrari broke the Corvette’s domination in the race, the GT yardstick of the noughties, with the Italian squad’s lead team Fisichella-Bruni-Vilander winning by a short head. Then AF Corse gave Ferrari victory in all the remaining rounds of the WEC, with the exception of Mount Fuji, and clinched the World Manufacturers’ LM GTE and LM GTE Pro teams’ titles. Then AF Corse gave Ferrari victory in all the remaining rounds of the WEC, with the exception of Mount Fuji, and clinched the World Manufacturers’ LM GTE and LM GTE Pro teams’ titles.

     The team had the same ambitions for 2013 and took on Japanese hotshoe Kamui Kobyashi after his F1 outings for Toyota and Sauber. At Silverstone the Ferraris were beaten by the works Aston Martins and they arrived at Le Mans after turning the tables on the British make at Spa. The Italian team met with little luck in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours and they had a race against the clock to repair #51 badly damaged in an accident during the test day. In the race itself they were outclassed by the Porsches and Aston Martins and did not repeat their 2012 success. They finished behind the aforementioned and the Corvettes, although they scored precious points in the world championship chase. Bruni and Fisichella won in Brazil and in the final round in Bahrain, which was enough to give them a narrow victory in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ GT championships. It was a toss-up between Bruni and Fisichella for the GT drivers trophy. Bruni won in the end, thanks to a faulty wheel on the car Fisichella shared with Kamui Kobayashi. With Porsche still breathing down their necks, ‘Gimmi’ Bruni played his usual trick of a very fast lap in qualifying. He and Vilander swept to victory and took home the GT manufacturer trophy for Ferrari and the team trophy for AF Corse. Toni Vilander and Kamui Kobyashi scored points in all the rounds making a large contribution to Ferrari’s success except at Interlagos where the car was destroyed by fire.

 

     In 2014 AF Corse took on two new drivers: Italian Davide Rigon officially backed by Ferrari (first champion in the history of the Superleague Formula), and British ace James Calado from GP2, and F1 reserve driver at Force India. They replaced Kobyashi who had returned to F1 and Giancarlo Fisichella who had decided not to defend his world title, but who backed up Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni in #51 at Le Mans. Frenchman Olivier Beretta joined the drivers in #71. The team kicked off 2014 in exactly the same way as in 2013 as the Ferrari F458 Italias won at Spa beating Porsche and Aston Martin and just missed out on a double. Once again the GTE Pro category was the theatre of a thrilling battle and again Ferrari’s spearhead in endurance no. 51 and the evenly-matched driver line-up of Bruni (4th Le Mans victory), Fisichella and Vilander (3rd Le Mans win for both men) came out on top. Last year AF Corse scored another two victories in the WEC and clinched another title, its third in three years! The Italian squad is back in 2015 determined to add further wins to its laurels with an unchanged driver line-up: Bruni and Vilander in #51 and Calado and Rigon in #71.

     At Silverstone the Italians kicked off the season in the best possible fashion with a victory and third place in GTE Pro, but met with less success at Spa. The #51, victorious in England, was given a stop and go penalty while #71 was hit with a drive through. With Fisichella in the #51 and Beretta in the #71, the reds were favourite for the 24 Hours of Le Mans even though several other factory teams had made good progress. However, Le Mans turned out to be the same as the rest of the season in which the crews got a good result but not the win, despite having taken four pole positions out of eight. Just as the #51 conceded the lead to the Corvette C7.R, the Ferrari had to pit with a gearbox problem. After the repairs, Bruni, Vilander and Fisichella returned to the track in third place, where they remained. The other car, shared by Rigon, Calado and Fisichella came second in class but was awarded winners’ points as the Corvette was not running in the WEC. At Nürburgring, an electronic fault let Bruni and Vilander down and in Austin, a dodgy door deprived them of victory. Meanwhile, Rigon and Calado took third place for the second time. The team were relieved to finally clinch another class win in Fuji. The sister car took third place once more. Although Bruni and Vilander took two second places in the remaining rounds, they lost the titles to Porsche.

     AF Corse is also involved in LM GTE Am for private clients, but has not yet met with the same success as in LM GTE Pro. They didn’t make the podium at Le Mans last year despite three cars on the grid. The situation has changed since last year. Engineer François Perrodo and experienced Le Mans driver Emmanuel Collard have joined the Italian team. Perrodo was named FIA WEC 2015 Gentleman Driver of the year and the pair were runners-up in the LM GTE Am championship. Perrodo and Collard, who shared the wheel with Rui Aguas, except in Bahrain, finished in the top three in every race bar Bahrain, where they dropped to fourth.

     The trio have begun this season just as well, with a win at Silverstone and second place at Spa-Francorchamps. They are definitely strong contenders for a class win at Le Mans. In the ELMS however, it’s not quite so plain sailing. Cameron, Griffin and Scott, who will be driving the second car at Le Mans, have yet to score a top-three finish. Last year, Cameron and Griffin were teamed with Alex Mortimer, but the car ran out of fuel on the Sunday morning. A rare mistake for a team like AF Corse, but nobody’s perfect.

 

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