Ferrari 499P

Car No. 83 was the best in the first session

The satellite team's car No. 83 recorded the best time in the first session, clocking 1 minute 41.673 seconds. — The satellite team’s car No. 83 recorded the best time in the first session, clocking 1 minute 41.673 seconds.

The prologue test, held annually at the same venue as the WEC opening round, the 1812km Qatar, saw the participation of 36 cars from 13 manufacturers competing in the WEC Hypercar class in the 2025 season. Four sessions were held over two days, during the day and at night, for a total of 14 hours of driving.

The works Ferrari AF Corse cars, No. 50 (Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Niklas Nielsen) and No. 51 (Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi), and the satellite AF Corse No. 83 (Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei, Philip Hansson) are collecting data and making set-up adjustments.

The green light was given at 1pm local time on February 21st, and the Hypercars and LMGT3s took on the first session, with AF Corse’s No. 83 finishing in the top spot with a time of 1 minute 41.673 seconds, followed by No. 50 in fifth place with a time of 1 minute 42.299 seconds. In conditions where grip was less than perfect, Ferrari AF Corse’s No. 50 completed 62 laps and No. 51 completed 56 laps.

The second session, which began at 6 p.m., saw a drop in temperature due to sunset, and the setup had been optimized following the first run, resulting in a significant improvement in lap times. Car No. 50 recorded a time of 1 minute 39.801 seconds, placing it in third place, just two tenths of a second behind the leading Cadillac V-Series.R. Over the four-hour session, Car No. 50 racked up a total mileage of 108 laps, and Car No. 51 106 laps.

Focusing on checking settings and tires

The Ferrari 499P No. 50 took part in the WEC prologue test held at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. — On the second day of the prologue test, the team focused on checking the behavior of the vehicle and tires based on the data obtained the previous day. All three cars had no major issues and steadily increased their mileage in preparation for the opening race.

The second day of testing was originally scheduled to begin at noon on the 22nd and last for three hours, but was extended by an hour due to a red flag being raised during the session. In the third session, car No. 51 recorded the second-fastest time of 1’40.679, car No. 50 the third-fastest time of 1’40.722, and car No. 83 the fourth-fastest time of 1’40.777. Car No. 50 completed 84 laps and car No. 51 82 laps, checking the setup and tire behavior.

In the fourth session, which followed a red flag interruption, each car carried out a variety of test programs to gather further data and knowledge about the behavior of the vehicle and tires as track temperature and grip levels changed. With the top nine cars within six tenths of a second of each other, car No. 83 set the third-fastest time of 1 minute 39.141 seconds, the fastest among the Ferraris. Cars No. 50 and No. 51 both completed 104 laps, completing the two-day prologue test.

The WEC season opener, the 1812km race in Qatar, will kick off with two official practice sessions on February 26th. Qualifying and hyperpole, which will determine the starting grid for the final, will begin at 5:40pm local time on the 27th (11:40pm Japan time). The final race will start at 2pm local time on the 28th.