Fuoco: “More Aggressive” Approach Required for Decider

Antonio Fuoco says that the Iron Lynx Ferrari squad needs to be “a bit more aggressive than usual” as it aims to reverse a points deficit in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup title decider.

Fuoco is 11 points behind Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG drivers Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello heading into this weekend’s 3 Hours of Barcelona.

It is almost a reverse of last year’s title scenario when Iron Lynx’s No. 51 lineup arrived at the season finale with a 13-point advantage over Team WRT’s No. 32 Audi crew.

WRT finished higher in the race but Pier Guidi, Nicklas Nielsen and Come Ledogar took the title by placing seventh, despite their car struggling for pace at the Spanish circuit.

Pier Guidi later described the final stint as “one of the most difficult” of his career.

Rather than defending a points lead, Fuoco is aiming to override a deficit to deliver Ferrari’s third consecutive GTWC Europe Endurance Cup drivers’ title, after Pier Guidi won in 2020 before defending the crown alongside Ledogar and Nielsen last year.

Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera are partnering Fuoco in the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 this weekend, replacing Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra who are at Motul Petit Le Mans.

The No. 71 car needs to finish fourth to have a chance at capturing the title, while the Akkodis ASP result will determine whether a higher position is required.

“We know coming into this weekend that it will be tough for us,” Fuoco told Sportscar365.

“We know that, for our car here in Barcelona, it’s a bit more difficult. But we are trying to do our best and find some pace.

“We are in a good position: we are 11 points behind, which looks like a lot but is somehow not so much. We just need to concentrate on ourselves and do our maximum.

“For us, it will be full-attack from lap one of qualifying. We need to be somehow a bit more aggressive than usual, because we need to score more points than them.

“A three-hour race is a short race, so it won’t be easy.”

Despite taking a more aggressive approach, Fuoco acknowledged that Barcelona has the potential to be a tricky circuit in terms of avoiding incidents in the 48-car field.

Furthermore, Iron Lynx is arriving off the back of a disastrous Endurance Cup race at Hockenheim where its Pro-class Ferraris collided and failed to score points as a result.

Fortunately for Fuoco, the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG also retired from the previous race, maintaining the points difference between the title-contending crews.

“We will try to avoid incidents, and we have already seen in Free Practice that it will be closer than on other tracks,” Fuoco said.

“Qualifying will be important because we know that in the last sector everyone will slow down [to create space].

“We need to be 100 percent focused on what we want to achieve. We have a good team behind us.

“It looks a bit more tough than usual, but we are still working on our setup to find some more performance.

“I’m pretty sure that before tomorrow we will find the right way to go for qualifying and the race.”

Fuoco added that he is determined to chalk up a third Endurance Cup drivers’ title for Ferrari in the last season of the 488 GT3, which is being replaced by the 296 GT3 next year.

“This will be the last championship for the 488 in GT World Challenge, so I want to finish the career of this car on a high level,” he said.

“All the championships are important to me, and I always try to do my best, here and in WEC. We try to achieve our goals and we push until the end.”