Molina: Home Podium “Special,” Toyota “In Different League”

Ferrari driver Miguel Molina described taking an FIA World Endurance Championship podium at his home Barcelona track as a “special result” but said Toyota was “in another league.”

Molina, Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco finished third in the 6 Hours of Barcelona aboard the No. 50 Ferrari 499P but, despite a clean race, were almost 40 seconds behind the pair of Toyota TR010 Hybrids at the checkered flag as the Japanese brand clinched the manufacturers’ title in style.

Third was the “ultimate” result Ferrari could have expected according to Molina, but he was delighted to get a podium in an unexpected race in his home country after Barcelona was added to the WEC calendar in place of Qatar.

“It’s a really special race for me because I’m really linked to this race track, I’m really happy to experience this,” he said.

“The result paid off and hope in the future we can experience it again.

“Toyota was in another league today. When they need to push, they push and they have something extra.

“At the end, they showed it again — they showed it in Le Mans, they showed it here — and we knew it was time for them to win the championship.

“We took the best of the rest and that’s the most important thing because it was a special result for me here at my home track.”

With the sister factory 499P finishing outside the points, and Toyota scoring a dominant 1-2, it means Ferrari’s faint hopes of taking its manufacturers’ title defense down to the Monza finale were ended.

“This year has been a difficult one — we’ve had good races and bad races,” Molina reflected.

“But, in the end, you need to be really consistent in this championship, it’s getting more close and close.

“We will try next year again and for sure the goal will be to win again.”

While the No. 50 crew maximized the car’s potential in Barcelona, it was a miserable race for the No. 51 of Antonio Govinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi as they ultimately finished 15th.

They had risen from 14th on the grid up to fifth in the second hour, but then Calado endured a tough opening stint as the track dried and crews switched to slicks, which was further compromised by the limiter briefly sticking on at the end of a Full-Course Yellow.

The No. 51 fell a lap behind during the final safety car and then had to make an emergency stop during the last FCY to compound a tough day.

“We had a bit of everything, we missed a bit of pace, we had some issues, we had some bad luck with the strategy — it was a race to forget,” Pier Guidi told Sportscar365.

“In the wet we were okay and in the dry we suffered a bit more. But sometimes when you do a compromise in terms of setup expecting a longer wet period, maybe that can happen.”

Pier Guidi said it was “not a big difference” to have its faint drivers’ and manufacturers’ title chances ended with a race to go, adding: “When you lose one race before the last race, it’s the same — when you lose, you lose, that’s it.

“Maybe we’re more open-minded in Monza and we just go for the race, but actually we were doing the same here because we know the title chance was really small.

“It’s part of the game. Of course, you try to win — everyone is here to try to win — but sometimes it’s just like this.”