AF Corse Set for Expanded North American Program

Photo: Fabre/VIMAGES

After racking up countless wins and championships around the world, AF Corse is set to ramp up its efforts in North America with as many as three entries for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Sportscar365 has learned the Italian squad is preparing to enter two GT Daytona class Ferrari 458 Italias for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, with at least one of the Prancing Horses likely to contest the entire North American Endurance Championship.

There also remains a strong possibility of AF Corse running an Oreca 03 Nissan, under the Pecom Racing banner, for the entire season with Luis Perez Companc, as revealed last weekend.

“At the moment, the deals are not yet closed,” team principal Amato Ferrari told Sportscar365. “But I’m working hard to finalize one P2 car with Pecom. We’re also working to be present in the GTD class with similar a GT3 [Ferrari] but in the long distance races.”

Ferrari confirmed that one of the GT3-based entries for Daytona would be driven by an all-Italian lineup of Paulo Ruberti, Marco Cioci, Gianluca Roda and Pier Giuseppe Perazzini.

A second Ferrari, meanwhile, could be given the green light for a limited-season program for South African Jack Gerber, who currently drives for AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“We will try to finalize the entries as soon as possible,” Ferrari said. “I hope to submit the entries [this week] once I finalize the deal. We’re organizing everything.”

Ferrari admitted they did not consider entering a 458 GTE car for Daytona due to the entry cap, which is currently limited to 12 GT Le Mans cars for the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic.

An expanded GTLM program was also ruled out due to their focus on the WEC.

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