24h Le Mans
Throughout this month, we will bring you a very special Advent calendar dedicated to remarkable stories and anecdotes from the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Today, here is a look back at the 1990s when two very different Ferraris hit the track at the race.
Though the McLaren F1 GTR winning its rookie participation was one of the major events of the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari also made waves at the 63rd running of the race by fielding two fundamentally different cars: a high-performance road car and a new prototype.
The Ferrari F40 holds a very singular place in the Italian marque's history. Upon its release in 1987, the model not only celebrated Ferrari's 40th anniversary, but was also the last car designed under the helm of Enzo Ferrari who passed away on 14 August 1988.
While the F40 was historically important, the Ferrari 333 SP was significantly innovative, the first Ferrari prototype seen at Le Mans since 1974, even 1973 if one goes back to the final appearance of a factory prototype. The 333 SP was born of the passion of Gianpiero Moretti. A highly reputable entrepreneur in motorsport, he was the creator of MoMo (from the first two letters of Moretti and Monza) accessories (steering wheels, rims), and a Ferrari supplier and sponsor in Formula 1. Named for the unit displacement of its V12 (333 cm3 for each of its 12 cylinders and SP for Speciale Prototipo), the project received the support of Piero Ferrari and Luca di Montezemolo, after their return to the marque's management, for a car destined to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the U.S.
The F40 and the 333 SP were rookies at the 24 Hours in 1995 respectively. Of the three Ferrari F40s at the start in 1995, two made it to the finish line, with 12th and 18th places respectively for Michel Ferté/Olivier Thévenin/Carlos Palau (Pilot Aldix Racing) and Gary Ayles/Massimo Monti/Fabio Mancini (Ennea SRL/Ferrari Club Italia). The only 333 SP completed just seven laps before retiring with a broken down engine. The car had qualified in the 17th spot and climbed to third position.
The 1996 24 Hours saw the final appearance of the F40 at the race. The four cars entered were all forced to retire, just like the two 333 SPs at the start. Though the F40 was not to be seen again at Le Mans, beginning in 1996 the 333 SP was redeveloped by British engineer Tony Southgate, to whom we own the Jaguar XJR-9 and XJR-12 winners in 1988 and 1990.
The modifications paid off in 1997 and 1998. Along with Max Papis and Didier Theys, Gianpiero Moretti finished sixth, the best overall result for the 333 SP. The following year, the car fielded by the Doyle/Risi team won the LMP2 class (eighth overall) thanks to Fermín Vélez, Wayne Taylor and Eric van de Poele.
In 1999, the final Ferrari 333 SP seen at the 24 Hours was fielded by French team JB Racing and was forced to retire in the seventh hour with a failed engine. Across the last two decades, Ferrari's track record at Le Mans includes several wins in the GT classes. Now, the Italian marque is preparing its highly anticipated return (in Hypercar) in 2023, a full 50 years after its last appearance in the race's top class and 35 years after its final victory in prototypes.
PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO ARCHIVES): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS. From top to bottom: the first Ferrari 333 SP at the start of the race in 1995 (#1); the same year, Michel Ferté, Olivier Thévenin and Carlos Palau gave the F40 its best result (#34); the 333 SPs of Moretti/Theys/Papis (#3) and Taylor/van de Poele/Velez (#12), sixth in 1997 and eighth in 1998, respectively.
