Pre-Race Paddock Notes From Monza

90 years ago yesterday, in 1932, the Prancing Horse emblem made its debut appearance on Scuderia Ferrari cars. In celebration, the AF Corse 488 GTE cars number 51 and 52 that are racing at Monza this weekend in the 6 Hours, fourth round of the WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship) will sport that original version of the emblem, first seen at the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours on 9 July 1932.

The old emblem will also feature on the F1-75s driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix weekend.

Lucky debut. The Prancing Horse was originally the emblem of aviator and war hero Francesco Baracca, whose family suggested Ferrari use it for good luck. The current emblem is essentially similar to the original, which featured a yellow background as a tribute to the city of Modena, along with the team’s initials and the Italian colours at the top part. The slight difference in that the original horse was less stylised, while the team initials were smaller and spaced further apart. It first appeared on the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MMs, driven by the pairings of Antonio Brivio-Eugenio Siena and Piero Taruffi-Guido d’Ippolito. The race ended with the best possible result, a one-two finish.

Paul Loup Chatin is back in Monza, one week only after winning the European Le Mans Series Four Hours of Monza round with IDEC Sport. The Frenchman is replacing Sebastien Ogier in the #1 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca 07 Gibson for the remainder of the 2022 WEC season. “Our efforts are paying off in the European Le Mans Series” said Chatin. “Our performance level is improving, race after race. IDEC Sport is in second position of the Championship. We are going to put pressure on the leaders now. Regarding my attendance in the WEC, I am here to support the Richard Mille Racing team with my knowledge and experience. I want to create the best conditions for myself and for my teammates during the second half of this season.”

Mathias Beche returns in the #44 ARC Bratislava Oreca 07 Gibson. “It’s a one-off”, he shared. The Frenchman was already competing with the Slovak team in the 1000 Miles of Sebring last March. Beche is also a full season driver in the European Le Mans Series with TDS Racing x Vaillante. He is back in Monza after snatching pole on this track last weekend during the European Le Mans Series Four Hours of Monza event. He nearly took LMP2 pole again this weekend and landed only three tenths behind LMP2 category pole sitter Felipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson.

Mathieu Vaxivière is hopeful about his race today: “The pace of our car shows true potential. We are closer to competition here (in Monza) than we were in Le Mans. It is most likely going to boil down to tyre ware and heat management on Sunday. We no longer want to focus on the topic of BOP adjustments. It is rather time to focus on the end of our season and defend our lead in the WEC Driver’s championship”.

GTE Pro Championship leader Richard Lietz tested positive for COVID-19 after last weekend’s ELMS weekend and is unable to compete in the 6 Hours of Monza this weekend. He is replaced by Le Mans teammate Fred Makowiecki in the #91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19.

During the Qualifying and Free practice sessions, highest top speed was reached by Romain Dumas (324,3 Km/h) in the #708 Glickenhaus Racing 007 LMH. He was 7Km/h faster than Kamui Kobayashi in #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid (317,6 Km/h) and 8km/h faster than Brendon Hartley in #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid (316,7 Km/h).

Although the car has no rear wing, the fastest Peugeot only scored 311.2 km/h with Loic Duval at the wheel of the #94 Peugeot 9×8.

In LMP2, the highest top speed was for Robin Frijns in the WRT Oreca 07 Gibson (306.8 km/h). Meanwhile in LMGTE, the fastest top speed was the #64 Corvette Racing C8R driven by Nick Tandy (282 Km/h).

The #93 Peugeot 9X8 and the #23 United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson were unable set a lap time during yesterday’s qualifying session: according to the French team, the #93 suffered “a small glitch” which required a system reset. The #23 violated track limits, had its lap time cancelled and was then unable to complete a full flying lap before red flag was waved. Both cars will start from the back of the grid.

The #38 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson will also start from the back of the grid following unsafe release in the pits leading to contact with #1 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca 07 Gibson.

Provisional starting grid can be found here: 036_Doc 36 – Prov. Grid