Montezemolo rules out Ferrari factory Le Mans effort... for now
As temperatures rose between Ferrari and its fellow constructors in the Formula One Teams Association, Le Mans class endurance racing provided a convenient alternative for Ferrari and FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemolo to wield against his adversaries. He was even invited to ceremonially start the race this year, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the marque's first win there while hinting that the Maranello squad had alternatives at its disposal. But now that the war appears to have come to an end (notwithstanding Max Mosley's infamous intransigence), Montezemolo has stated that Ferrari won't be returning in full force to Le Mans just yet.
Ferrari's president said that his company couldn't shoulder the enormous parallel burdens of racing in both F1 and Le Mans, though he did admit that the prospect of returning to Le Mans with a full factory racing effort was tempting, saying "sooner or later we will want to go back with an official car." In the meantime, privateer teams like GT2 champions Risi Competizione will continue to field race-prepped customer F430s, but we'll have to wait a little while longer for Ferrari to take on the likes of Audi and Peugeot with a full-on LMP1 works effort.
[Source: Autosport]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kfj 8:46AM (7/01/2009)
It just sucks v12 are getting banned so we wont hear a LMP1 V12 Ferrari :(
Reply
dwaltr 9:06AM (7/01/2009)
Not that I don't believe you but could you please link to any official info about V12's being banned. Thanks.
Didn't everyone really know that Ferrari had no real interest in racing sports cars. It was just another excuse to trying and get what they wanted from the FIA. And it worked.
Reply
Cypher09 11:00AM (7/01/2009)
http://www.lemans.org/sport/sport/reglements/ressources/2009/auto/reglement_2011_moteur_hybride_gb.pdf