Riberas, Molina Named Ferrari Factory Drivers

Photos: Riberas/Audi

Alex Riberas and Miguel Molina have been named Ferrari factory drivers, the Italian manufacturer has confirmed, ahead of this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone.

Both drivers join the previously announced Alessandro Pier Guidi as additions to the factory roster for this year, which now sees a total of ten works pilots.

Molina, Riberas, Pier Guidi and GP3 standout Nyck de Vries all tested a Ferrari 488 GTE late last year, in a shootout to determine Gianmaria Bruni’s replacement with AF Corse in the WEC, which ultimately went to Pier Guidi.

However, Ferrari has elected to sign both Spaniards to factory deals as well, with Molina having been placed with the Spirit of Race Ferrari in the WEC and Riberas taking part in Pirelli World Challenge with R. Ferri Motorsport.

For Riberas, a graduate of Porsche’s single-make series, who starred in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship last year with Alex Job Racing, securing a factory drive is a dream-come-true opportunity.

“What I’ve been doing until now, the last 11 or 12 years in motorsport, has been to just achieve this,” Riberas told Sportscar365.

“As kids and growing up, [we all] want to be professionals. We want to make a living out of racing and it’s very difficult… The fact that I’m an official factory driver for Ferrari makes everything much more solid.

“You know that if you do a good job and keep on racing, you’re going to continue to be one of the official drivers in the future… I’m super excited and I’m really looking forward to doing well.”

Molina, meanwhile, will take part in all six-hour WEC races with the AF Corse-run Spirit of Race squad in GTE-Am, while being promoted to the factory GTE-Pro squad for Le Mans, alongside Davide Rigon and Sam Bird in the No. 71 Ferrari.

The former Audi DTM ace will also take part in this year’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup with SMP Racing.

Riberas, Molina and Pier Guidi join existing Ferrari factory drivers Rigon, Bird, Toni Vilander, Giancarlo Fisichella, James Calado, Andrea Bertolini and Olivier Beretta in the now-strengthened lineup.

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