AF Corse FIA WEC season gets underway in Qatar

AF Corse FIA WEC season gets underway in Qatar

The 2025 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship has officially kicked off with the Prologue, the two-day collective test of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

The number 83 Ferrari 499P - driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson - successfully completed the tests, managing to collect important data on the car.

Phil Hanson: “Just finished two very good days of testing here in Qatar. We feel very confident with the steps we made and what we have learned about the car, me especially as I’m still learning about the 499P. Luckily it’s been quite a good event for me with the Prologue test days, the car is behaving very well and I think that we have a very good package. It’s always difficult to understand where you stand during the Prologue as every team is running a different run plan. We should have a clearer picture by the time we get to Thursday evening after qualifying, but I’m feeling very confident about the race. We have been here for a while already and we still have a week left, I just want to get racing and I think also most of the other drivers do too! I’m really looking forward to it as it’s gonna be very exciting and close between all the manufacturers”.

Robert Kubica: “Prologue test days are done here in Qatar. They have been two long days with a lot of driving and a lot of laps, data and knowledge. We went through most of the scenarios we wanted and it felt great to be back behind the wheel of 499P. The feeling is good so now we have few days off from driving but still try to prepare as much as we can. I can’t wait to start the first race weekend of the season”.

Yifei Ye: “It feels great to be back with the team for a second season in FIA WEC. Going into 2025 we are looking forward to it, especially after two successful test days in the Prologue. We ticked many boxes and found a good feeling with our new team mate Phil. We are looking to be in a good spot to challenge for the 1812 KM of Qatar”.

The 499P in Giallo Modena livery will be back in action on Wednesday 26th for the first two free practice sessions. On Thursday it will be the turn of the FP3, followed by Qualifying and finally the Hyperpole, reserved for the ten fastest cars in Qualifying.

The first green light of the race will be on Friday 28th with the ‘1812 KM of Qatar’, with the start scheduled for 2.00 pm local time; ten hours later, the chequered flag will signal the first winners of the 2025 season.