AF Corse’s Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado claimed their first FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Pro class victory of the season in Sunday’s 4 Hours of Shanghai.
The factory Ferrari pairing benefited from a puncture by the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Marco Sorensen in the final hour to take their No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE to the class lead.
Debris from Sorensen’s shredded tire resulted in the race’s only Full Course Yellow, and left Pier Guidi to resist a late-race challenge by Kevin Estre in the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR.
The Italian crossed the line 6.757 seconds to give Ferrari its first GTE-Pro win in Shanghai.
Estre and co-driver Michael Christensen came home second, bouncing back from a ten-second pit lane penalty for an unsafe release.
The sister No. 91 Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz completed the class podium in third.
Sorensen and co-driver Nicki Thiim, who dominated the race up until the final hour, were relegated to a fifth place class result, finishing 34 seconds behind the winning Ferrari duo.
TF Sport Goes Back-to-Back in GTE-Am
TF Sport claimed its second straight class win in GTE-Am, in a controlling run by Jonny Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc.
Yoluc led early courtesy of contact between the class pole-sitting No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche of Egidio Perfetti and the Paul Dalla Lana-driven No. 98 Aston Martin, which handed a drive-through penalty to the Porsche.
While Darren Turner took over the class lead in the third hour, the Englishman came under attack from Adam, who was on fresher Michelin tires at the time, that resulted in the red Aston retaking the top spot.
Eastwood made a late splash-and-dash for fuel with five minutes to go, although still emerged 16 seconds ahead of the No. 57 Project 1 Porsche of Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Larry Ten Voorde, who came home second.
The No. 98 Aston of Dalla Lana, Turner and Ross Gunn completed the class podium in third.
RESULTS: 4H Shanghai