Antonio Giovinazzi believes Ferrari can finest hope to “survive” in Sunday’s World Endurance Championship race at Fuji after a troublesome qualifying for the 2 manufacturing facility 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-Collection.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 ready for one more irritating consequence on its return to the 4.5km circuit.
Requested to clarify Ferrari’s poor displaying in qualifying, Giovinazzi advised Motorsport.com: “Simply no tempo. I did the utmost I might do however the automobile was troublesome to drive right now in quali. We do not begin from a [good] grid place however it’s an extended race so let’s examine what we are able to do tomorrow.
“It was not the tempo which we had in Austin and which was higher. For some cause final yr, we struggled right here and similar this yr. So it is not our monitor.”
He added: “We’ve got many vehicles which might be higher than us – BMW, Alpine, after all 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 aim needs to be to take the battle to its closest title rivals to place itself in the most effective place for the Bahrain season finale in November.
“As at all times we’re right here to attempt to do the utmost, and tomorrow we attempt to combat,” he mentioned. “Fortunately the rivals which can combat for the championship are simply in entrance of us and we [will] attempt to combat with them if we’ve got the prospect.”
Requested what can be a superb consequence for Ferrari on Sunday, Fuoco mentioned: “Surviving. Attempt to end within the prime 5.”
Pressed additional on whether or not that was reasonable, he added: “Probably not however at all times we attempt to make it work.”
Extra reporting by Gary Watkins
