Ferrari Has “Good Package” for Expanded Macau Effort

Photo: Ferrari

Ferrari is hoping to use the lessons learned from the 296 GT3’s maiden outing at Macau last year to its ramped up effort in this weekend’s FIA GT World Cup, which will see an expanded roster of three factory drivers tackle the Guia Circuit.

Daniel Serra, who drove to a fourth place finish in last year’s Main Race and set the race’s fastest lap, has returned to the Chinese squad for the 2024 edition, alongside AF Corse Hypercar driver Yifei Ye.

A third 296 GT3, meanwhile, has been entered by AF Corse for Antonio Fuoco, marking the largest effort from the Italian manufacturer in the history of the GT World Cup.

Ferrari’s Global Head of Endurance Antonello Coletta said he hopes to be able to “fight for the win” in the race that has never seen a non-German manufacturer take the Main Race victory.

“This is the first time for us and we’re very happy about this new situation because we respect the other editions of Macau when we didn’t have a car or just one like last year,” said Coletta.

“In 2024, I hope to have the chance to fight for the win. I believe that Ferrari should be a good player for Macau. Why? Because Macau is an important race. It’s… the world championship in GT3 in one race.

“We see all the lineups on the entry list. I am very happy to be here to see the race because it will be a very strong race.”

Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari’s head of endurance race cars, is hopeful that Serra and Harmony’s outing last year, that also included a 488 GT3 Evo 2020 for Silver-rated driver Chen Weian, will help pave the way for success this time around.

“Macau is a very, very special track,” said Cannizzo. “We learned quite a lot on the 296 GT3 in terms of how we suggest to our customers the proper setup to start with at each race.

“It looks like what we’ve learned has paid off because the results we got so far have been pretty good with the 296 GT3 in very, very different championships.

“We’re confident that this will pay off also in Macau.

“This year with three cars, we can also score good results.”

When asked directly if there could be any setup carryover from last year, Cannizzo said “Definitely.”

He added: “Last year was very tough for us. What we learned last year was the start of our analysis, to be honest.

“Then we included, also, the other things we learned at other tracks to have a good package in place for this year.”

Coletta: Increased Macau Effort Down to Customers’ Budgets

While Ferrari has brought in additional factory drivers for this weekend, Coletta stressed that the budgets from its two teams — Harmony and AF Corse — have come from external sponsorship to make the expanded effort a reality.

“All our teams pay [for] the cars, pay, for the spare parts, pay everything,” he explained. “Without the budget, it’s impossible to have more cars.

“In 2024, we are lucky because Harmony and AF found all the budget necessary to be in Macau.

“If other competitors have more cars, I’m happy for them. But I don’t know the situation in the others. I can speak for Ferrari and it’s clear that all our teams are private teams and for this matter, the budgets were found to race.”

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