Pier Guidi: Ferrari Needs “Perfect Season” for Title Defense

Ferrari will need a “perfect season” to defend its FIA World Endurance Championship title as the Italian manufacturer goes into the new season against numerous competitors that have made Evo joker upgrades, according to Alessandro Pier Guidi.

The Prancing Horse will be aiming to defend both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles with its 499P, which hasn’t been upgraded since Ferrari invoked the car’s first and so far only Evo joker for the second half of the 2024 season.

By contrast, Toyota, Cadillac, Alpine and BMW have all taken Evo jokers to coincide with every car being rehomologated over the winter in the Windshear wind tunnel.

Pier Guidi, who once again shares the No. 51 Ferrari 499P with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi this season, says Ferrari will need to maximize its scoring in races where it struggled last year to be in with a chance of back-to-back titles.

“Of course, it won’t be easy to win the championship again; we know how difficult it was to win it once,” Pier Guidi told Sportscar365. 

“We’ll try to improve the races where we didn’t achieve our goals. I think it’s best to try to score more points in the races where we didn’t score [well] to defend the title.

“But there are many manufacturers that have changed their cars, who have brought an Evo. I think the car showed that it has good potential in most of the races. I think it’s important to make an Evo when you need it, and this was not the case.

“I think we have the possibility to defend the title. We need to do another perfect season, an almost perfect season to do it. The competition level is super-high, but we showed once that we could do it and we’ll try to do it again.”

Pier Guidi believes that, although the 499P is approaching two seasons without significant changes, there is further potential to be extracted from the title-winning car.

“The car is so complex with all the electronics behind it,” he said. “There are so many things to do, so many things to improve. Even small details make a big difference. 

“The margin becomes smaller and smaller as we gain knowledge of the car. But I think we can extract even a bit more, also having learned more from last year, especially in the races where we were not so competitive.

“I think these are the races where we need to focus more, and we’ll try to repeat what we did in our stronger races, like the high-speed tracks where we are normally strong.”

Calado, meanwhile, believes the new range of Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tires being introduced in the WEC this year could add a further complication.

“The ultimate would be to try and retain the title, and of course it would be a dream come true to get another one,” Calado told Sportscar365. “But it gets harder every year.

“We need to stay focused, keep improving the car and ourselves, and try and maximize everything we can. Last year wasn’t a perfect season, myself included. We made a few mistakes, and we need to iron those out going forward.

“We also have new tires, which are a bit trickier from what I’ve heard, and it’s something we need to think about changing the approach going into the races. A track like Qatar with high energy, it could be tough.

“We were quick last year but it could be the opposite. We just don’t know.”

John Dagys contributed to this report