The Hypercar troops of Ferrari are all well-known

This is the only manufacturer to have brought down Toyota in 2023: at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, car N°50 secured pole position and car N°51 ultimately won a legendary battle against the Japanese team. A real blow for the Japanese firm, as the return of factory competition worked against them in the most important race.

For 2024, the Scuderia will have three official cars. At least, that’s the unofficial case: the 3rd Italian Hypercar, AF Corse N°83, cannot be officially entered by a manufacturer. If there is a 3rd car, even if it bears the same name as the factory cars, it must be entered in the FIA World Teams’ Cup (as is the case with Porsche and Proton and the two Jota cars this year). The crew of the 3rd Ferrari will therefore not score points in the world championship.

No changes at N°50 and N°51, Kubica confirmed.

Within the Scuderia, we must have said to ourselves: why change a winning team? The great success of the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans did not make the Italian management hesitate, who naturally reconfirmed their factory drivers in the two machines entered in the world championship.

The number 50 will be entrusted to Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen. The first mentioned had indeed claimed pole position at Le Mans last year and at Sebring to kick off the season.

As for N°51, the winner in Sarthe, its drivers Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and James Calado will keep the wheel of the Italian prototype (which, by the way, has arrived at the 24 Hours museum).

As for the semi-official car, the names of its drivers were just waiting to be officialized: Robert Kubica will make the big leap into Hypercar, although some may have thought he would go to BMW due to his links with WRT. The winner of the FIA LMP2 Drivers’ Trophy will be joined by former Porsche Jota driver, Chinese Yifei Ye, and former Russian F2 driver, a protege of Ferrari, under an Israeli license.

A Jota effect?

The 2023 season revealed a curious paradox: the only private teams were at Porsche (the Jota No. 38 and the Proton No. 99) and often outperformed the official teams from Stuttgart, including Team Penske. The most striking example was seeing the No. 38 leading the 24 Hours of Le Mans fair and square, right under the noses of the factory-backed No. 963.

With the AF Corse case, perhaps the question could arise. Just like at Jota, the drivers come from LMP2 and therefore have solid experience in sports prototypes. And at Ferrari as well as at Porsche, a large majority of the official drivers come from GT. Granted, they have acquired experience in Hypercar over the past year.

In any case, the Maranello house could become a powder keg if the daring ones from AF Corse N°83 were to dare to challenge the factory red machines. However, Ferrari and Porsche remain the only two manufacturers (out of the nine competing in Hypercar) to field more than two prototypes. To be continued…