Pier Guidi: Ferrari Fought Back “Lap by Lap” After Early Setback

Alessandro Pier Guidi praised AF Corse for fighting back “minute by minute, lap by lap,” recovering to third in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa after a brake issue put the No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3 a lap down in the early stages.

Pier Guidi, Vincent Abril and Alessio Rovera completed the overall podium in the 78th running of the Belgian endurance classic behind GRT Grasser Racing Team and Rutronik Racing after a race-long recovery drive.

Although Abril held third place by the end of the opening hour, the second hour saw the car struck by a braking issue that dropped it off the lead lap and to the tail of the field.

From there, the No. 51 crew pushed on, fighting its way back into the top five by the halfway point.

Although the Prancing Horse was ultimately unable to prevent Lamborghini from taking a breakthrough maiden victory in the event, Pier Guidi said afterwards that he was “satisfied” about the result given the early setback.

“If you come here, you want to win,” Pier Guidi said. “But if you think how we started the race, the podium is a good result for us.

“We had a bit of luck to come back and then we had quite good pace. The team did an amazing job in the pitstops.

“We were gaining something all the time and then minute by minute, lap by lap, we were gaining and then we arrived close to the top position.

“Then also we had a bit of luck, but to be honest, it’s part of the game. You are lucky, sometimes you have less luck. But I can’t say we have been unlucky this time.

“We came here to try to win again after last year, to try to finally win this race that we lost in the last few minutes, but it is what it is.

“We did the maximum. The team did an amazing job, the car was great and I think we did almost the perfect race and we are here on the podium so I think we can be satisfied.”

Rovera, who was at the wheel of the No. 51 Ferrari when the issue struck, stated that the crew had a “really hard night” as it pushed to make up the lost ground.

“Basically we just realised in the outlap that there was a problem, so I had to come in the box quite slowly to fix the problem,” Rovera said.

“And then we were in P66 and we just had to come back position after position. It was a really hard night.

“We fought a lot to go back in the top ten which was the main goal and then again we tried to give the maximum. We had some luck with Full Course Yellows and safety cars.

“The team did an amazing job, all the pitstops, the guys they were super strong, super good. So thanks to them, thanks to the team and of course to my teammates.”