AF Corse Wins Shanghai Appeal; GTE-Pro Win Reinstated

Photo: Marius Hecker/AdrenalMedia

AF Corse’s GTE-Pro class victory in last year’s 4 Hours of Shanghai has been reinstated, following a decision made in the FIA International Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

The No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi was initially excluded from the fourth round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship season due to a ride height infringement that saw the car’s left-front to be lower than the minimum 50 mm of ground clearance.

The non-conformity, at the time has been argued to have been caused as a result of damage during the race.

It had promoted the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre the the provisional class win, although AF Corse appealed the decision.

Some three months after the Nov. 10 race, the court, after hearing the parties and examined evidence, have ruled to “set aside” the contested decision.

The reinstatement has put the Ferrari pairing back in the GTE-Pro title hunt, moving from sixth to second in the World Endurance GTE Drivers’ Championship, and only 15 points behind Aston Martin Racing’s Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen, who picked up their second class win of the season last time out in Bahrain.

The WEC season resumes next weekend at Circuit of The Americas for the Lone Star Le Mans, followed by the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March, which will pay 1.5x points.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John