Alessandro Pier Guidi arrives at Le Mans determined to repeat the 2023 victory, a goal that would be crucial to defend the world championship crown won last year. The Italian, an official Ferrari driver, helped bring the 499P to the top of the world after participating in its development from the very early stages. Pier Guidi is also contributing to the evolution of Maranello’s Hypercar but, as he makes clear during the video interview conducted with FormulaPassion, the priority will be to have a competitive car again at Le Mans.
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What kind of Le Mans it will be
The Piedmontese comes off an unfortunate retirement in the 6 Hours of Spa, hit by a GT3 at La Source, but there is no time to despair. The race of the year is looming, which will award double points in the world championship. “We have to prepare everything in a short time”, reflects Pier Guidi. “Le Mans is one of the tracks where you cannot test. It is mainly a street circuit and, except for the 24-hour race moment, you never get to drive it. Everything is very compressed and above all, being somewhat the event of the season, we are all super focused.”
Le Mans is always a race full of many variables: from Bop to weather, including reliability. This year, there is also the unknown of how the new Michelin tires will behave: “On every track, the tire adapts differently. If you have a history of how the situation was with the previous tires, you know what to expect on all tracks based on the type of asphalt and the energy that circuit transmits to the tires. With this new tire, however, we do not have this kind of history, which is why every time you have to discover a bit of everything.” The 6 Hours of Belgium also showed that the competition has made an important step forward: “Many rivals have made new cars and have spent many jokers. We don’t know how they will really perform at Le Mans. We will see, after the test day we will have a first indication.”
The world championship run
Pier Guidi arrives at Le Mans able to boast the title of world champion, not hiding the emotion in being called that way: “Honestly, it’s nice. It’s the goal we set last year when we started the season and when you manage to achieve it, it’s always very satisfying. […] When we started the car, the first goal was obviously to win Le Mans and I managed it in the first year. Then the cherry on top was missing, which was the world championship, and we achieved it last year. All this in just three years, on the third attempt. In my opinion, we did an excellent job with this 499P.”
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The #51 driver is known for his engineering background, having skills he was able to use throughout the entire development of the 499P: “I have been involved from the beginning, from the start, when the car didn’t exist except in the simulator. Then I was also lucky to be the first to baptize it on track, right here in Fiorano. These are things you always remember with great pleasure, especially considering what this car has done over the years. From that moment it wrote a page of Ferrari history, it’s undeniable.”
Waiting for the EVO
Meanwhile, Ferrari looks ahead, preparing to make important changes to the 499P to address its weak points. “Obviously there are small things we try to improve”, explains Pier Guidi. “We know where we are a little weaker. We have never hidden the fact that on medium-slow tracks we struggle more compared to medium-fast ones. We have to be good at not losing the good things our car has on fast tracks with high-speed corners and gain a bit of what we missed on slow tracks, where in recent years we have always struggled.” The Italian, however, has no doubt that he would like to continue driving a more competitive car at the 24 Hours than elsewhere. Pier Guidi sums up his thought with a simple question: “Do you remember who wins Le Mans or Fuji?”
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