On Sunday 11 June 2023, Ferrari AF Corse driver Alessandro Pier Guidi took the chequered flag in the #51 Ferrari 499P for a historic triumph. The Italian marque had won the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its return to the top class of endurance racing, and 58 years after its last appearance on the top step of the overall podium. “It takes time to grasp what we did. Probably now, we are part of the history of Ferrari, the biggest brand in the world,” Pier Guidi boasted later. “As an Italian, I have dreamed of driving for this brand since childhood. Now it’s real. We won Le Mans with a red car. It isn’t easy to describe what you feel. It’s a mix of emotions,” he continued. “If you think about how much work there is behind this victory. We worked 24/7. We tried to give our best, but everyone worked non-stop, the engineers and the mechanics, for one year, and the work finally paid off. We knew from the start that reliability would be a key factor. The car was new and the race crazy. The weather was mad, with many slow zones and safety cars. But in the end, Le Mans is always like this. You have to try to stay out of trouble or at least to minimise the mistakes. I think we did quite well!”
You can see the #51 Ferrari 499P complete one of its last laps of the race in the video below.
Go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans YouTube channel for more full onboard videos.