AF Corse

Did You Know?

• At the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, the AF Corse #51 car driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander won the GTE Pro race.
• In 2023, AF Corse and Scuderia Ferrari won the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 499P hypercar, Ferrari's first top-class win in 50 years.
• From 2023 to 2025, each of AF Corse's three Ferrari 499P cars (#51, #50, #83) won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

History

Amato Ferrari (no relation to the family of Enzo Ferrari and his Ferrari car company) retired from driving in 1995 and chose to concentrate on team management, initially entering the Italian Superturismo Championship. Following the series' demise in 1999, Ferrari launched a new team known as AF Corse (in English, 'AF Racing'), named for his initials. The team turned to sports car racing, and within a year was contracted by Maserati. AF Corse was tasked with the development, maintenance, and transport of the Trofeo Cup, a one-make series based on the Maserati Coupé, a role it held until 2005. During 2004, Maserati approached AF Corse about running the new Maserati MC12 for the international FIA GT Championship. The team aided Maserati in testing and developing the car before running the two new racers at Imola. Drivers Fabrizio de Simone, Andrea Bertolini, Mika Salo, and Johnny Herbert were assigned to the team, earning AF Corse two victories before the season ended. Once the development of the MC12 was satisfied, the company returned to running the Trofeo Cup, as well as running a Maserati Light in the 2005 Italian GT Championship. AF Corse returned to the FIA GT Championship in 2006, this time running the Ferrari F430 in the GT2 class. Salo was retained, while newcomers Rui Águas, Jaime Melo, and Matteo Bobbi completed the line-up. Victory was earned in the team's debut at Silverstone, and another two were earned over the season, including at the Spa 24 Hours. AF Corse won the class championship, beating fellow Ferrari competitor Scuderia Ecosse. As defending champions, AF Corse remained in the FIA GT Championship in 2007 with the Ferrari F430s but all new drivers: Dirk Müller, Toni Vilander, Gianmaria Bruni, and Stephane Ortelli. Motorola announced full sponsorship of the squad. The two cars dominated the 2007 season, winning nine of the ten events on the schedule and wrapping up another championship. For 2008, AF Corse expanded to a three-car team in the GT2 class. Vilander and Bruni were retained in the lead car, while Biagi returned to be joined by Christian Montanari in the second entry. The third car ran under the Advanced Engineering name, with Matías Russo and Luís Pérez Companc. In 2010, the FIA GT Championship was dissolved; the GT2 class formed the FIA GT2 European Championship, which was suspended due to lack of entries. AF Corse joined the Le Mans Series, fielding three Ferrari F430 GT2s. Drivers Matías Russo and Luís Pérez Companc campaigned the #94 Ferrari with Toni Vilander and former Grand Prix drivers Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella in the #95. Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni drove the Ferrari #96. In 2011, AF Corse entered the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup with brand new Ferrari 458 Italia GT2s, winning the ILMC in the GTE-Pro category, including the final round at Petit Le Mans. It also won the FIA GT3 driver's championship with Francisco Catellaci and Federico Leo. The team joined the International GT Open for the 2010 season in the Super GT class, fielding two Ferrari GT2 cars for drivers Jack Gerber & Rui Águas in the #6 car and Pierre Kaffer and Álvaro Barba in the #8 Ferrari. AF Corse also fielded a third Ferrari (#7) for the AT Racing team with Alexander Talkanitsa and his son Alexander Talkanitsa Jr. For 2012, AF Corse competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship and GT1 World Championship with Ferrari F458 Italia GT2s and GT3s, including a co-branded GTE-Am class car with Michael Waltrip Racing, AF Waltrip. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, amateur driver Piergiuseppe Perazzini collided with the No. 8 Toyota driven by Anthony Davidson, sending the Toyota airborne at the Mulsanne Corner. Perazzini's Ferrari also flipped and landed on its roof. Davidson suffered two broken vertebrae. The AF Corse #51 car driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander won the GTE Pro race beating Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin. In 2023, AF Corse and Scuderia Ferrari announced a partnership to field the marque's new 499P hypercar in the FIA World Endurance Championship. After a successful season that year, including winning at Le Mans in the centenary edition – Ferrari's first Le Mans in the top class in 50 years – the team decided to field a yellow-coloured privateer entry, drafting in Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye to pilot the #83 machine. They led much of the 2024 edition of Le Mans, before retiring with a motor–generator unit fault. In the 2025 Le Mans 24h, the yellow #83 won, while #51 and #50 were beaten by one of the Porsche 963. The collaboration with the Ferrari Hypercar team has largely been a success, with each of the three cars (#51, #50, #83) winning the marquee event from 2023 to 2025. This threepeat means that all nine of their works drivers have won the race: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in car #50, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in car #51, and Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson in car #83.