Ferrari Aiming to ‘Minimize the Gap’ to Toyota in Race Conditions

Ferrari AF Corse is heading into its second Hypercar race at Portimao with the aim of “minimizing the gap” to 1000 Miles of Sebring winner Toyota in race conditions.

Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen gave the Ferrari 499P a debut podium in last month’s FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener in Florida and are hoping to carry some momentum through to Sunday’s six-hour race this weekend.

Molina told Sportscar365 that the AF Corse factory squad is trying to improve its race day competitiveness after the initial jubilation of its pole position at Sebring turned into a dominant one-two finish for Toyota.

The Spanish driver was unsure about how much of a gain Ferrari can make at only its second Hypercar race but indicated that work is being done to close the gap.

“We went out from Sebring with more positives than negatives, especially to run everything for the first time at a race weekend,” said Molina.

“We all know the project is really young. We actually didn’t have enough time to be focused on the race situation, because we were developing the car.

“We could see that the car was in a good level from the beginning [but] we knew that in the race we would have more problems.

“We are going to try some different setup options for this race. We have tested here already, two endurance tests. We have some data, but at the same time we want to try to minimize the gap to the Toyotas.”

Molina identified tire degradation as the main area in which Ferrari believes that it can unlock better competitiveness in race conditions.

After the checkered flag at Sebring, Ferrari’s head of GT and sports cars Ferdinando Cannizzo acknowledged that it was “evident” the 499Ps were “struggling in the last part of the second stint” during the 1000-mile race.

“Degradation was the key of the race in Sebring,” reflected Molina.

“Here it will be more or less the same [importance]. I don’t know if it’s high or low deg, but the less degradation we have in the race, the better. So we need to work on this approach.

“Tire deg will be the aim of working for this weekend.”

Molina added that the task of closing the gap to Toyota is likely to be a gradual process, while other new Hypercar manufacturers are also keen to make similar inroads following the reigning world champion’s eventual dominance at Sebring.

“We need to be really humble and keep an eye on [the fact] that we are still young with this project,” he said.

“Toyota has a lot of experience in this class, so we need to do our job and learn, and approach them. Because right now they are the benchmark.

“We need to close this gap slowly and the only way to do it is to stay with our foot on the floor and work as we are doing.

“I think we are doing a really good job. The guys are working day and night, almost. We just need to continue with the approach of Sebring and see where we are here.”

Toyota is hoping to bank as many points as possible in the early stages of the season as the Hypercar newcomers including Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac get up to speed.

Reigning drivers’ champion Sebastien Buemi told Sportscar365 last week that he expects the Japanese manufacturer’s rivals to “get stronger” over the course of the season.