For now it is only the embryo of an idea. It is not yet possible to define it as a project. But we are talking about a suggestion that tickles Ferrari. At the presentation of the 499P there was talk of the possibility that from the second year the Hypercar program could be opened up to customers.
The experience of the first races in the WEC teaches that the management of a modern Prototype is so complex that an external team cannot be entrusted, so it would not be surprising if the third 499P were entrusted to AF Corse to give life to a parallel team, but external to the official one and with its own structure to be built.
The two Ferrari 499Ps involved in Le Mans: will there be a third next year?
Photo by: Ferrari
The problem, however, is that the program shouldn’t “weigh” economically on the structure directed by Antonello Coletta, but should be financed thanks to the support of sponsors who can believe in the validity of the third machine.
In short, a series of expectations could cross the blender of good hopes: Richard Mille, who is already a Ferrari sponsor, could broaden his visibility on the third 499P and, perhaps, a woman, or rather a girl, could enter the trio of drivers to be promoted he is proving to be able to go very fast.
Lilou Wadoux, AF Corse
Photo by: Ferrari
We are referring to Lilou Wadoux, the 22-year-old from Amiens, who was included this year among the Ferrari Competizioni GT drivers; the young Frenchwoman races with the 488 GTE Evo of the AF-Corse -Richard Mille team. The team won the class at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and Wadoux was the first woman to win a WEC race.
#83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO: Luis Perez Companc, Lilou Wadoux, Alessio Rovera
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
The idea of promoting a young female hope in Hypercar could become a stimulus to ensure that what today seems to be just an idea can become a more concrete project with the passage of time.
The mouths of Maranello are silent, so much so that there are those who still don’t know anything about it, but the rumor gathered in the Le Mans paddock is not a hoax. Not at all. It takes time for the suggestion to find an outlet in reality. Ferrari put two 499Ps on the front row at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a sign that even dreams can come true…
