Two 488 GTEs will lead the field away in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am classes at the 6 Hours of Monza, fourth round of the FIA WEC World Championship, which gets underway tomorrow at 12:00. Alessandro Pier Guidi and Sarah Bovy proved fastest in their respective categories at the end of a hard-fought session marked by high temperatures, both in the atmosphere as well as on the asphalt.
LMGTE Pro. Alessandro Pier Guidi secured a splendid pole position, lapping the Lombardy track in 1’45″270, just 54 milliseconds ahead of Nick Tandy’s Corvette and 58 ahead of AF Corse’s other Ferrari, which, with Antonio Fuoco aboard, held second place until just moments before the chequered flag. The two-time world champion completed four laps, compared to the five of his team-mate. The two 488 GTEs sported the old version of the emblem, first used on July 9, 1932 at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, when the shield featuring the Prancing Horse made its debut appearance on Scuderia Ferrari cars.
LMGTE Am. Historical pole position in the World Endurance World Championship for the Iron Dames crew, taken by an excellent Sarah Bovy who stopped the clock on 1’47″431, topping Ben Keating by 227 milliseconds. This is the first time a female crew will start from the front in the FIA WEC. Fine performances also from the other 488 GTE entries in the class, with Christoph Ulrich placing fourth and Thomas Flohr fifth in AF Corse’s Ferrari no. 21 and 54. Eleventh place went to Franck Dezoteux and thirteenth for Claudio Schiavoni in the Spirit of Race and Iron Lynx colours.
Programme. On home soil and in front of Prancing Horse tifosi, the cars will take to the track just prior to 12:00 to line up on the starting grid of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The gantry lights will go out at noon sharp getting the race underway.
Pole positions are always special but, in some cases, they take on an even greater meaning. Those obtained at the end of the 6 Hours of Monza qualifying by AF Corse’s Ferrari 488 GTE in the LMGTE Pro class and by the Iron Dames in the LMGTE Am class are historic. That of the Italian driver puts an end to a draught which began after last leading the field away at Silverstone in 2019, while Sarah Bovy’s pole allows the Belgian driver to enter the World Endurance Championship history books as the first ever all-female crew to start from the first grid position. We collected the thoughts of the protagonists at the end of the session.
Alessandro Pier Guidi: “We are very pleased, we pushed hard and the car behaved well. In Monza it is always special to snatch the pole position; it is our home race and we are happy to have done well in qualifying. So far things have gone right and starting in front of everyone is important even though there are six hours of the race ahead of us. We have been working towards the race and have been consistent in our times. Tomorrow will be very hot and we will definitely struggle – all of us – with the tyres. However, we can finally get a chance to play our hand for the win.”
Antonio Fuoco: “Qualifying went pretty well all things considered and we are all very close. We are in a good position for tomorrow’s race, we have got good pace; let’s see what we can do. It is always special to be at Monza for our home race, we have to try to get maximum points for our fans, for us and for the team.”
Source. Ferrari
PlanetPorsche 
Discussion
No comments yet.