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Ferrari reigns at Petit Le Mans

Maranello, 2 October – Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Pierre Kaffer pulled off a flawless performance today to take victory at Petit Le Mans in their AF Corse-run 458 Italia GT2. The car, which has already taken the Le Mans Series constructors’ championship in its very first year in the endurance championship, secured another important result to triumph in the 1000 miles of Petit Le Mans – one of the most prestigious dates in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup calendar. That confirms the Italian squad’s lead in the ILMC teams championship and Ferrari’s lead in the constructors’ championship with just one round left of a calendar that will finish at Zhuhai on November 13. The Maranello company, which already took the laurels in the coveted series last year, moves up to 151 points to take a 28-point lead over BMW, while AF Corse leads the BMW Motorsport team by 14 points with its total of 99.

“Today’s result is very important,” said Antonello Coletta, the head of Ferrari Corse Clienti, which offers support to the Maranello car company’s motorsport clients who take part in the endurance championships. “To have won one of the most demanding races of the season shows that Amato Ferrari’s team is a great group. The car and the exceptional ability of the drivers did the rest, contributing to a very important – and totally deserved – success for us.”

Giancarlo Fisichella, appearing at the Georgia track for the second time, expressed his delight at bringing the car home just after he took the chequered flag: “It’s been a perfect weekend that started with pole position and has now ended with this win. The result is the fruit both of the team’s hard work and of a great strategy, which took us to the end of a very hard-fought race. This was an absolutely unforgettable experience worthy of the colours of Ferrari.” It was a truly perfect weekend for the team AF Corse , which also took the honours in the GTE-AM Class where Robert Kauffman, Rui Aguas and Justin Bell took victory at the wheel of the Ferrari 430 GTC.

Of the six 458 Italias on the grid for the GTE PRO category that was also the final event to count towards the American Le Mans Series, the Ferrari of Risi Competizione was forced to retire 20 minutes before the start of the race. On the lap to the grid, Jaime Melo lost control of the car while he was working to keep his tyre temperatures up. Unfortunately the contact with the guard-rail caused damage to the car that forced it to retire.

Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)