Ferrari and Cadillac not able to challenge Toyota

WECHyperCar

Oct 19

Neither Ferrari nor Cadillac were able to challenge Toyota in the 6 Hours of Barcelona, after Buemi took the lead in turn five of the very first lap with Toyota TR010 Hybrid #8 and De Vries with sister #7 progressively went from P6 to second in 22 laps.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Circuit de Catalunya. Miguel Molina in Ferrari 499P #50 second while De Vries in Toyota #7 was ready to overtake him after passing Hanson in 499P #83.

The leading Ferrari 499P finish on the third step of the podium

The opening stages saw all three 499Ps make excellent progress through the field, with Molina in fourth with 499P #50.

.The first two hours continued with the track damp, before it gradually dried out, allowing the crews to switch to slick tyres. The Ferraris then consolidated their positions just outside the podium places, with Nielsen first and Fuoco towards the end bringing the #50 car across the line in third place, 39.725 seconds behind the leader.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Circuit de Catalunya. Left: Ferrari #50 pitting ahead of AF Corse Ferrari #83. Right: Ferrari and Cadillac could only fight for a podium seat.

Antonio Fuoco #50: “Today we managed to make the most of everything at our disposal, which is certainly a positive. Now we need to focus on the final race of the championship at Monza, with the aim of doing even better. Racing in Italy for the second time this season will be special for us. We expect a fantastic atmosphere in the grandstands, with our Tifosi cheering us on, and we’ll do our best to put on a great show for them.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Barcelona. #50 Ferrari 499P.

Miguel Molina #50: “It was a great weekend, made all the more special by the excitement of racing at home and achieving this positive result with my teammates. Getting on the podium in Barcelona was a dream of mine, and I’m delighted to have made it come true. In the run-up to the race, we knew the Barcelona 6 Hours would be a challenge for us, but we worked as well as we could and managed to make the most of every opportunity. My first stint was very positive, as was my teammates’ pace in the middle and final stages of the race, so I’m really pleased with this result.”

Nicklas Nielsen #50: “We showed that we had good pace, and third place was the best we could hope for. We can be very proud of this result, but now we need to work as hard as possible in preparation for the final race at Monza.” Source: Ferrari

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA secured another double points finish

In qualifying, both Cadillac reached Hyperpole again. The #.12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, driven by Will Stevens qualified in P5, whilst the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R driven by Jack Aitken wasn’t able to set his last flying lap of the session because of a stopped car on track, so ended the session in P10.

At the halfway mark the #38 was running in P8.

At the final pitstop, the team made the strategic call to take fuel only and not change tyres on the #38. The strategy paid off and the #38 crossed the finish line in P4.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Circuit de Catalunya. #38 Cadillac V-Series.R

#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Jack Aitken: “Another really good, solid race for us. The pace of a couple of the cars at the front was very hard to match, so we did our best to score points and work our way through the field after quite a tricky start in the wet. To come away with fourth and sixth with the two cars is a brilliant result. We had a very clean end to the race, the strategy was great and we really got the most out of what we had.”

#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Earl Bamber: “Overall, a really great result. Some of the other cars showed very strong pace today, so this one was a real hard grind and a big team effort. We made some fantastic strategy calls and managed to grab fourth place and some really good points. We’ll take that one with a big smile and move on to Monza.”

#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Sébastian Bourdais: “It’s a good, solid result considering where we started and everything that happened yesterday. During my stint, we had the contact with Magnussen, which turned us around and cost us positions. On a track where it’s notoriously difficult to overtake, I think we can be quite pleased with what we’ve achieved. The guys did a really good job and we managed to get a decent result out of it. It’s been a good couple of races for us, so hopefully we can carry that momentum into Monza and see what we can do there.”

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P fifth

The #83 entered by AF Corse, with Robert Kubica and Ferrari official drivers Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson finished fifth.

Phil Hanson took second place on the opening lap. The #83 499P finished fifth, thanks to Ye's work during the middle phase of the race and Kubica's efforts in the final stints.

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “On our car, we challenged for the win and didn’t quite make it. But it’s great to get a one-two finish and wrap up the manufacturers’ title. Against such a competitive field, it’s really impressive to do that with one race to go, so big congratulations to everyone. The drivers’ title is still open, so for the #7 car, we will just try to regroup and improve for the next race.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “It’s a great result for the team. I think we executed well, very cleanly, with no mistakes, so it was a really strong performance from everyone. Obviously, it’s very important to secure the manufacturers' World Championship and to know that a TOYOTA RACING car crew will win the drivers' title as well. That’s a nice feeling going into the final round.” Source: Toyota Racing

#12 Cadillac sixth

With the track starting to dry, the team elected to change onto slick tyres at the second pitstop. The #12 Cadillac V-Series.R lost some ground at its pitstop as it had to serve a 10 second penalty received for some slight earlier contact.

At the halfway mark the race had settled down and both cars had made up ground, with the #12 Cadillac was fighting for P5 eventually claiming more valuable championship points in P6.

#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Will Stevens: “Overall, P4 and P6 is a pretty decent result for the team and I think it’s been a solid day. There are probably a few things we need to look at, particularly where we lost some time. Realistically, in terms of pace, I think that’s more or less where we were today. We’ll regroup, look at what we can improve before Monza and hopefully finish the season on a high.”

#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Alex Lynn: “P6 is an okay result for us. I think we had a solid race overall. We got on with the job and came away with sixth place, so it was a reasonable result in the end.”

#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Norman Nato: “It was a very tricky race with changing conditions, starting wet and drying out towards the end - although there was still a bit of drizzle. There was a lot of pick-up on track and the traffic was tough to manage as well, so honestly, it was a difficult one. Still, P4 and P6 are good points for the team, overall it was quite a clean race and we fought hard in every condition. We keep scoring points, and now there’s one more race to go at Monza. We’ll give it everything and hopefully finish the season on the podium.” Source: Cadillac Racing