The 2015 season of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) closes this weekend. Four Ferraris will be racing, with a Constructors’ championship still wide open, a certain victory in the GTE-Am drivers’ title and a very difficult run in for the GTE-Pro one in what will be the 458 Italia’s final appearance in this category. In 2016 it will be the turn of the new 488 presented at the Finali Mondiali in Mugello less than two weeks ago.
Head to head. The decisive race in Bahrain will as usual see two Ferraris on track in the GTE-Pro class, with the two 458 Italias of AF Corse crewed respectively by “Gimmi” Bruni and Toni Vilander and Davide Rigon and James Calado. The main aim of the two pairs will be to win the race and stay ahead of the two Porsches, no. 91 and 92. The Constructors’ title is at stake, with Ferrari going into the weekend with a slight advantage. However, the four-point margin really is minimal and it will be a real head-to-head between Ferrari and Porsche in which speed and reliability will both play their part. Both Ferrari duos are still fighting for the teams’ and drivers’ titles although it would take the help of rivals, and in particular Richard Lietz, to pull off an unlikely comeback.
Ferrari derby. One thing is already certain in the GTE-Am: a Ferrari crew will win the drivers’ title. Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov lead the standings for now. The SMP Racing team trio has a 19-point lead over AF Corse stable mates François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard that in Bahrain will be joned by Matteo Cressoni. However, with 26 points up for grabs at the weekend in qualifying and the race, they don’t plan on giving up. The two won the last race in Shanghai and they plan on continuing to damage their rivals. It promises to be an interesting duel.
Source: Ferrari