Ferrari’s head of endurance race cars, Ferdinando Cannizzo, told media after the Hyperpole session on Friday that the Italian manufacturer must “respect Toyota’s experience” in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this coming weekend.
“We need to respect Toyota. They have more experience than us in this matter. But, we would like to enjoy this moment and we will see for the for the weekend,” he said to a crowd of reporters.
“We know that the situation for the race should be completly different. Honestly, this is just the first step of the long way. It will be very hard. Toyota is the pinnacle at this moment.
“But in any case, I believe that Toyota is okay, but the other’s brand are not bad. I’m sure that the qualifying is one matter and the race is another story,” concluded the Italian.
However, while Ferrari’s seeming pace advantage over Toyota is ome thing, another challenge of Le Mans is staying out of the garage.
“i would like to remember that the real problem of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for I believe all the manufacturers, including Toyota, is the reliability. This is the real game of the race,” he said.
Another ky part of Le Mans is weather — as the old saying goes, ‘it always rains at Le Mans’. As you’d expect, Cannizzo and his team are prepared for this eventuality, with the forecast suggesting rain on Saturday into the evening.
“We prepare our fight with a masterful concentration. This is the maximum that we can do, because we have to have respect for the others.
“We will prepare the cars the best we can. Another item that will be very important will be the strategy for the tyres. But, the race will be very long. We have new rules, for the safety car. We need to concentrate many times, because I believe that the race will be very long,” said the Ferrari man.
