Calado: No. 51 Ferrari Needs “A Bit of Luck” in Title Chase

James Calado feels that the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse crew needs “a bit of luck” as it aims to overturn a 23-point deficit in the final two rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi gained a substantial boost for winning the double points 24 Hours of Le Mans in June and are the highest-placed non-Toyota drivers in the standings.

Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa sit 23 points clear at the top of the table, with the No. 51 Ferrari trio and the No. 7 Toyota lineup on equal terms in second.

Calado acknowledged that closing the gap will be a difficult task, with the pursuing lineups hoping for another off-key weekend for the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid which only finished sixth in the 6 Hours of Monza.

“In reality, to win the championship, I think we need to have a bit of luck because I don’t think we’ll be fast enough to win races currently, but never say never,” Calado told Sportscar365.

“We’ll give it our best shot and do the best we can to maximize the points. We know that Bahrain is 38 points for a win, so things can change there.

“After Le Mans, the performance hasn’t been there. In Monza we struggled a little bit. We’ll see. As drivers, we’ll just give it our all and try to get the wins. We’ll give it max effort.”

It has not been a straightforward season for the No. 51 Ferrari crew, which started out with an accident for Pier Guidi at Sebring followed issues with the brake-by-wire system at Portimao.

A last-lap overtake from Calado and Porsche’s Frederic Makowiecki yielded third place at Spa, while the historic Le Mans win brought them into the title frame by slashing their deficit to the No. 8 Toyota drivers from 40 points to 25.

“Going into the season was a bit of an unknown,” said Calado.

“We knew we had the performance, but we also knew that reliability would be our weak point. In reality, the car has been pretty reliable, which has been a shock for me personally.

“At Le Mans, there were no real mechanical issues. There was one small electrical one, but we were able to solve it. The car was faultless.

“The team have done an amazing job because they’re working so had in getting this car up to speed quickly. I know it’s just constant work with them, simulator stuff and reliability checks. It’s down to them that both cars are in a position to fight for a world title.

“Considering it’s the first year, we’re learning a lot. On our side, we’ve been a bit unlucky.

“Sebring was a bit of a nightmare with the accident we had. Monza was tough, being taken out at the start and being put off-strategy with emergency stops to do.

“All of these things could have made it a lot better, but you’ve just got to keep going and see what you can do. We finished on three brake discs at Portimao, which was incredible.

“If you look at the other [Ferrari], it had a stone go through the radiator at Le Mans which made it lose a lot of points. Everyone has their ups and downs, but you just get on with the job.”

Fuji and Bahrain are new circuits for the Ferrari 499P, whereas the Toyota GR010 Hybrid has raced and won at both venues before.

However, Calado doesn’t feel that will have a big difference on Ferrari’s competitiveness and preparation considering its background with AF Corse in the GTE-Pro class.

According to the Balance of Performance, the 499Ps will run 7 kg heavier at Fuji than they did at Monza, but with an 8kW higher maximum power output and more energy to use each stint.

“We’ve got a few practice sessions, and simulators back at the factory which are pretty accurate,” said Calado.

“In terms of base setup, we can go in with good knowledge. Fuji has always, personally, been a good track for me. We’ve had some decent results there [in GTE-Pro].

“And then Bahrain, we haven’t been there [in Hypercar] but everyone understands it. I expect no big surprises, to be honest. We’ll just treat it as we always have done in the past.”