Ferrari marked the first year for the new 488 GTE by winning the GT Manufacturers title - a successful year which could only have been crowned by also winning the FIA GT Drivers World Championship.
Taking over the reins from the enormously successful Ferrari 458 Italia, which won the GT Manufacturers title three times (2012, 2013 and 2014), GT Drivers titles twice (2013 and 2014) and the Le Mans 24 Hours twice (2012 and 2014), the 488 GTE had a lot to live up to.
However, it quickly proved to be a more than worthy successor to the F458’s legacy with a 1-2 finish first time out at Silverstone. Sam Bird and Davide Rigon romped to a dominant victory in the AF Corse No. 71 ahead of Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado, despite the No. 51 Ferrari having to serve a three-minute penalty for changing an engine after qualifying.
Such was the step forward over the older model that Bruni’s fastest lap, a 1:58.885, was over 2.5s quicker than Rigon’s best in the F458 the year before, making made him the first GT driver to break the 1m59s barrier at Silverstone since the inception of the WEC in 2012.
The Ferrari was again the car to beat at Spa, but a late engine failure for Calado robbed AF Corse of a second consecutive 1-2 finish. Bird and Rigon were the chief beneficiaries, though their perfect start to the season would come to a juddering halt at the Le Mans 24 Hours, where mechanical problems befell both cars.
Nevertheless, Ferrari still scored a vital 24 points towards the Manufacturers championship courtesy of the GTE Am winning No. 83 AF Corse 458, which Emmanuel Collard, Rui Aguas and François Perrodo drove to fourth.
AF Corse’s GTE Pro arm bounced back in fine style at the Nürburgring, with Bruni and Calado leading a second 1-2 finish of the season for the Prancing Horse. However that was the last time the Italian cars would enjoy a clear advantage over the rest of the field, as Aston Martin swept the North American leg of the championship before Ford did likewise in Japan and China.
Although they could not fight for victory, Ferraris continued their consistent points-scoring at the remaining rounds to keep themselves in contention. Bruni and Calado finished the season with a trio of second places and a pair of thirds, while Bird and Rigon completed the podium at COTA and Bahrain.
While this was not enough to catch the No. 95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen in the GT Drivers championship, the erratic results of the sister No. 97 GTE Pro and No. 98 GTE Am cars handed Ferrari the initiative in the Manufacturers standings.
Aston Martin Racing’s Darren Turner and Richie Stanaway won in Mexico, but a mechanical failure while running third at Silverstone and first corner contact with a spinning LMP2 car in Shanghai, plus two DNFs at Le Mans and Mexico for the Am car shared by Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda, meant the British team needed a perfect run in Bahrain to deny Ferrari the crown.
The weekend started in the best possible way for AMR, as they took pole in both classes to close the gap in the manufacturers’ standings to just eight points. However, all went awry in the race as the pole-sitting No.97 of Turner and championship-returnee Jonny Adam shed a wheel at half-distance. Minutes later, the No.98 was forced to retire with engine problems. Although No. 95 won the race, only a fifth place for the No.97 Vantage gave Ferrari the title by just seven points.
Elsewhere, Ford took two victories and a maximum score at Le Mans on their way to third in an encouraging first season of competition. Olivier Pla and Stefan Mücke’s fourth place at La Sarthe with American Billy Johnson and two second places at Fuji and Shanghai narrowly gave the No. 66 team the edge over team-mates Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell, who bounced back from a pit fire at the Nürburgring to win both the Asian races.
The single Porsche run by privateer outfit Dempsey-Proton Racing finished fourth in a transition year for the 2015 GT Manufacturers champions before their new 911 RSR is introduced next year. Everybody is looking forward with great anticipation to seeing them in action!
