Giovinazzi Wary of No. 6 Porsche in Hypercar Title Fight

Antonio Giovinazzi said he still considers the No. 6 Porsche 963 as a threat in the FIA World Endurance Championship title battle, adding that Ferrari needs to “score as much as we can” in the remaining two races.

Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi lead the Hypercar drivers’ standings having collected 115 points so far this season, putting them 15 point clear of the No. 83 Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson.

Third in the standings is currently held by Porsche Penske Motorsport pairing Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, who leapt up the points table as a result of their victory in the Lone Star Le Mans earlier this month.

Although the 36-point gap between the No. 51 Ferrari and No. 6 Porsche is more than double the margin to the second-placed No. 83 car, Giovinazzi told reporters at Fuji Speedway on Friday that he sees Estre and Vanthoor as a real threat in the championship fight.

“I think No. 83 showed that they were consistent this year, but I think about more Porsche now,” said Giovinazzi.

“The No. 6 that is third there, they are quite strong here [at Fuji]. So they can gain quite a lot of points, also [in] the manufacturers’ [standings].

“We saw that Cadillac is fast as well. For sure for us it’s more about thinking about scoring as much as we can and then think about Bahrain, because here I know so far is difficult.

“We knew this already before we came here but I think we need to also think about Porsche, also [in] the manufacturers’ [standings], they are there.”

Kubica, for his part, struck a similar tone when talking about the drivers’ championship battle, which he predicted could turn into a fight involving multiple brands if Ferrari’s rivals manage to leave Fuji with a big points haul.

“Lately we have focused too much on car No. 51 versus No. 83,” said Kubica.

“The others are still not far away. If some of our competitors score some big points today, I don’t think it will be a matter of two cars fighting for the championship.

“It will be a crucial race, but it will be a big challenge to score big points here. Then again, I thought in Austin we would score big points and we didn’t.

“We will work overnight to improve the car, and the No. 51 has the same tools as us but it will be difficult to close such a big gap to the front runners.

“We will see after this weekend how many people will still have the chance to win it in Bahrain.

“Bahrain is 50 percent more points, so it gives a lot of opportunities and opens up the chances mathematically for different scenarios.”

Jamie Klein contributed to this report