Antonio Giovinazzi believes Ferrari can greatest hope to “survive” in Sunday’s World Endurance Championship race at Fuji after a tricky qualifying for the 2 manufacturing unit crews.
Giovinazzi struggled to twelfth within the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar within the opening section of qualifying on Saturday, lapping nearly seven tenths off the tempo set by Alex Lynn within the #2 Cadillac V-Sequence.R.
The sister #50 Ferrari pushed by Antonio Fuoco did progress to Hyperpole, however the 28-year-old by no means featured within the battle for pole place both, ending up a distant seventh on the grid.
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Ferrari had a troublesome outing at Fuji Speedway in its debut season final yr with each its vehicles ending a lap down on the profitable Toyota, and Giovinazzi fears that the Italian marque is about for an additional irritating outcome on its return to the 4.5km circuit.
Requested to clarify Ferrari’s poor displaying in qualifying, Giovinazzi instructed Motorsport.com: “Simply no tempo. I did the utmost I may do however the automobile was troublesome to drive at the moment in quali. We do not begin from a [good] grid place but it surely’s an extended race so let’s examine what we will do tomorrow.
“It was not the tempo which we had in Austin and which was higher. For some motive final yr, we struggled right here and similar this yr. So it isn’t our observe.”
He added: “We have now many vehicles which might be higher than us – BMW, Alpine, in fact Toyota and Porsche – so will probably be a troublesome race tomorrow. Let’s survive and see the place we’ll end.”
The #50 Ferrari shared by Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen is contending for the championship, with the trio trailing the #6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer by 12 factors with two races to run.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Picture by: Andreas Beil
Estre certified the #6 Porsche in fifth place, whereas the #7 Toyota crew that’s stage on factors with the #50 Ferrari ended up fourth within the arms of Kamui Kobayashi.
Fuoco mentioned that Ferrari’s objective must be to take the battle to its closest title rivals to place itself in the perfect place for the Bahrain season finale in November.
“As all the time we’re right here to attempt to do the utmost, and tomorrow we attempt to struggle,” he mentioned. “Fortunately the opponents which can struggle for the championship are simply in entrance of us and we [will] attempt to struggle with them if we’ve got the prospect.”
Requested what can be an excellent outcome for Ferrari on Sunday, Fuoco mentioned: “Surviving. Attempt to end within the prime 5.”
Pressed additional on whether or not that was real looking, he added: “Probably not however all the time we attempt to make it work.”
Extra reporting by Gary Watkins
