Ferrari Ready to Support Potential Third 499P Next Year

Ferrari is ready to support a potential third Hypercar entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship next season according to the manufacturer’s global head of endurance.

Antonello Coletta told reporters ahead of the 8 Hours of Bahrain that an additional Ferrari 499P would “probably” be a customer car but avoided giving away too many details.

The deadline for entry requests to the 2024 season is Nov. 20 and the list of entries is due to be confirmed one week later.

Ferrari made its return to the top level of sports car racing this year with a pair of 499Ps run by the AF Corse factory squad. The No. 51 car driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and both crews have an outside chance of winning the Hypercar drivers’ world title this weekend.

“Regarding the eventual third car, now we are ready for the potential third car,” Coletta told Sportscar365 during a media roundtable at Bahrain International Circuit.

“We consider that our knowledge is OK to manage another car. I don’t know if we will have a third car or not, but we are ready to make another car.

“If we will have the conditions for next year, it should be an option. But it’s not confirmed. It should be 2024 or 2025.”

An additional Ferrari 499P would run the entire WEC season rather than focusing on Le Mans only.

Porsche is hoping to get a third factory LMDh car on the Le Mans grid, although its participation lies at the discretion of event organizer the ACO.

It’s believed that a third Ferrari could be associated with the Richard Mille AF Corse entry that currently races in GTE-Am but is not expected to continue into LMGT3.

Coletta said that the involvement of timepiece company Richard Mille, whose founder is president of the FIA Endurance Commission, stands as “an option” but that nothing has been confirmed.

When asked if AF Corse will be the technical force behind a potential third car, Coletta responded: “It should be, but it depends [on] the circumstances.

“If AF Corse have a budget, it should be an idea to manage with AF Corse.

“In any case, we need to manage all the engine and electronic parts, but this is normal like in F1 with a customer team.”

Coletta sought to distance the participation of Lilou Wadoux, who currently drives for Richard Mille AF Corse, and Robert Shwartzman in Sunday’s WEC post-season rookie test from the talk about an extra Hypercar entry.

“I would like to clarify that if Lilou Wadoux or Robert Shwartzman would be at the rookie test [it is] because they are official drivers of Ferrari,” he added.

“It is normal that we organize a rookie test with our drivers. But it’s completely separate [from] a potential third car for them.”

Ferrari has previously been open to integrating customers into its LMH program, although the prospect of selling a 499P was downplayed as recently as this summer.

At Mugello last weekend, the company revealed the Ferrari 499P Modificata which is an unrestricted, limited-edition track day variant of the LMH car built for customer use.