Yifei Ye spoke to Motorsport Week about making history as China’s first Ferrari driver and racing in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar.
In the third and final part of our interview series, we spoke with Ye about his experiences in the Maranello brand.
He drove for JOTA in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season with their Oreca 07 LMP2 followed by their Porsche 963 LMDh.
Ye made the switch for 2024, having been a Porsche junior driver long beforehand, to become the first Chinese Ferrari driver.
As an ‘official driver’, he has primarily driven in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari privateer Le Mans Hypercar in the WEC.
Ye became the first Chinese driver to win overall in the WEC after winning at the Lone Star Le Mans.
He was also the first Chinese driver to win a world championship race in 10 years and the second to do so after Ma Qinghua in the 2014 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Ye and his #83 Ferrari teammates Robert Kubica and Robert Shwartzman took Ferrari’s second WEC victory in 2024.
More so, they claimed it on the same day Charles Leclerc won at Monza – which was a first in motorsport history.
A dream fulfilled at the age of 23
“I think to be able to sign for Ferrari at the age of 23 last year is a dream of many racing drivers.
“And I already had a decent amount of experience in endurance racing.
“So I think it’s great that I can bring valuable information to the team [with a] very high responsibility.
“This win really showed that I’m up to the standard and that I’m happy to be with Ferrari.
“This is the right place for me to be and with all Ferrari’s history in motorsports, in different championships.
“I think they are hugely successful – winning on the same day in two world championships is something that’s hardly ever repeatable by other manufacturers.
“So I really feel great to be part of this team and I hope to achieve great results with Ferrari in the coming future.”
Ye’s sportscar experience stretches further back than the 2023 WEC having raced in the past four Le Mans 24 Hours races.
Two of his participations were in Oreca 07 LMP2 machinery, whilst the others were in different Hypercars.
Claiming the 2020 Euroformula Open Championship was his final spell in single-seaters before his sportscar racing debut.
During the 2021 European Le Mans Series, he won the championship title with current co-driver Kubica and Louis Deletraz.
He later went onto win the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 title for G-Drive Racing.
Ye reuniting with Kubica for 2024
Coincidently, Ye debuted into sportscar racing at exactly the same time as his current co-driver Kubica.
Furthermore, Kubica, Ye and Louis Deletraz took three race victories resulting in the ELMS championship title.
They made their first appearance at Le Mans midway through the ELMS season and suffered heartbreak.
Ye was behind the wheel when their #41 Team WRT Oreca broke down on the last lap whilst in a long-lived LMP2 lead.
“I think everyone knows that he has a lot of great history in Formula 1,” said Ye on Kubica.
“He’s very fast, experienced and a great guy with a lot of humour.
“To have him in the team was very useful as he has a lot of experience and speed and I think not only him but the other Robert [too] – Shwartzman – who is also a Ferrari factory driver, who did many duties for the Formula 1 team.
“He’s also very quick and has experience with Formula 1 which has some of its technologies being shared with the Hypercar which is great.
“Like when I first tested in the 499P LMH, I could really feel like this car was transformed – some bits of it from Formula 1 and not like some others – let’s say competitors are kind of upgraded from GT cars.
“So with these two Robert teammates, it’s really great to work with them.
“That’s how we were able to win and lead Le Mans for so long.
“The only problem is that every time when the engineer calls Robert, you have two guys standing up at the same time.
“But other than that, it’s great to be with these two guys.”
Lone Star Le Mans executed unlike any other race
“It’s been a season with a lot of ups and downs.
“And honestly speaking, I think in Le Mans, we had a decent chance to do very well, to fight for the win at the end of the race. But unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do so at the end with four hours to go.
“I would say that during the season we have had always decent pace. But just with something, you know, here and there, we didn’t manage to really put everything together.
“Sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes it’s just external… And finally in Austin we were able to execute everything perfectly.
“I think we didn’t really have the strongest cars in the race, but we managed to do a race without any mistakes.
“And that’s how we managed to capitalise on others’ errors and to take home the first victory for our crew in this championship.
“Also my first victory with Ferrari after joining them at the end of last year, so it’s a very important win.”
At the Circuit of the Americas, situated outside the Texan city of Austin, drivers contended with hot and humid ambient conditions.
Ye drove a double-stint in the middle of the race.
He mentioned the discomfort of the conditions and how important his training and preparation is for such situations where the cockpit is over 50 degrees Celsius.
In spite of this, the #83 made little to no errors and took their first victory – a second WEC win for Ferrari.
Ferrari unlike anywhere else
AF Corse, the partner behind several of Ferrari’s international GT and Hypercar commitments, was founded by Amato Ferrari – unrelated to the Ferrari brand.
Since winning the Spa 24 Hours and the FIA GT2-class championship in 2006 in Ferrari machinery, the outfit has continued to produce successful results since then.
In the WEC, they have won eight GTE titles and currently run a pair of Ferrari 296 LMGT3s in the replacement category for GTE-Am.
Ye even made his first GT3 outing at last month’s Monza GT World Challenge Europe round since becoming a Ferrari driver.
“AF Corse is one of the most, if one of not the biggest race teams in Europe,” he added.
“They have been collaborating with Ferrari in so many years with a huge background of success, and I think their results in Hypercar prove that how good they are and to be part of Ferrari, of course it’s very good.
“Everyone is very passionate about what they do and I think in this sport when it’s very tough sometimes.
“Let’s talk about all the sleepless nights during race weekend.
“I think having this extra power is very important and I think this is part of the blood that you see in the people working in the team and I think this is very important.”
One race is left before the conclusion of the #83 Ferrari’s first WEC season.
The 8 Hours of Bahrain will close the season and provide AF Corse with another chance for redemption after a difficult Fuji round.
In spite of all the drama and action from the 2024 season, Ye came out on top with his #83 AF Corse teammates to become the sixth different WEC Hypercar winner.
READ MORE of the #83 AF Corse interview series:
Robert Kubica: WEC COTA success restored same feelings as F1 2008 win
Robert Shwartzman: Ferrari’s F1 reserve on clinching WEC victory
