AF Corse

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AF Corse

Founded	1995
Team principal(s)	Amato Ferrari
Current series	FIA World Endurance Championship GT World Challenge Europe European Le Mans Series WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Asian Le Mans Series International GT Open British GT Championship DTM
Former series	Italian Superturismo Championship FIA GT Championship FIA GT1 World Championship World Series Formula V8 3.5 (as Spirit of Race/SMP Racing)
Current drivers	FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar 50. Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen 51. James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi 83. Robert Kubica Robert Shwartzman Yifei Ye LMGT3 54. Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon 55. François Heriau Simon Mann Alessio Rovera
Teams' Championships	2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 FIA GT2, 2011 ILMC LM GTE-Pro, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 FIA WEC GTE-Pro, 2020 GTWC Endurance, 2021 DTM
Drivers' Championships	2006, 2007, 2008 FIA GT2, 2011 FIA GT3, 2013, 2014, 2017 FIA WEC GTE-Pro, 2020 GTWC Endurance, 2021 DTM

AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, and International GT Open, and are four-time champions of the GT2 class of the former FIA GT Championship.^[1] The team has also entered cars under Advanced Engineering, AT Racing, PeCom Racing, Spirit of Race, Formula Racing, 8Star Motorsports and MR Racing, and in association with Michael Waltrip Racing (AF Waltrip).

In 1995, Amato Ferrari (no relation to the family of Enzo Ferrari and his Ferrari car company) retired from driving 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. The company would continue in this position until 2005.

During 2004, Maserati approached AF Corse about running their latest development in sports car racing: 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 in their home event at Imola. Drivers Fabrizio de Simone, Andrea Bertolini, Mika Salo, and Johnny Herbert were all assigned to the team, eventually earning AF Corse two victories before the season ended.^[2] 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 however they would be running the latest Ferrari offering, the Ferrari F430, as well as competing in the series' lower category, the GT2 class. Salo was retained in the driving line-up, while newcomers Rui Águas, Jaime Melo, and Matteo Bobbi completed the standard 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.^[3] The company retained their connection to Maserati however, entering a trio of cars in the new FIA GT3 European Championship.

As defending champions, AF Corse remained in the FIA GT Championship in 2007, although much on the team changed. While the Ferrari F430s remained, all new drivers were introduced to the team. Dirk Müller, Toni Vilander, Gianmaria Bruni, and Stephane Ortelli took over driving duties for the season, while Motorola announced their 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.^[1]

For 2008, AF Corse expanded to a three car team in the GT2 class. Vilander and Bruni are retained in the lead car, while Biagi returns to the squad to be joined by Christian Montanari in the second entry. The third car will be run under the Advanced Engineering name, with Argentinian Matías Russo and Luís Pérez Companc.

In 2010, the FIA GT Championship was dissolved and two new championships were born from it. The GT1 class of the former series became the FIA GT1 World Championship while the GT2 class formed the FIA GT2 European Championship. The GT2 series was suspended due to lack of entries. As a result, the AF Corse team joined the Le Mans Series. For the 2010 season, the team fielded three Ferrari F430 GT2s for the series' GT2 class. 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. ALMS regulars, with the Risi Competizione team, 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 as well as the FIA GT3 European Championship with Ferrari 458 Italia GT3s. AF Corse won 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 also joined the International GT Open for the 2010 season in the Super GT class, which is largely reminiscent of the GT2 rules in the Le Mans Series. The team fields 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 will also field a third Ferrari (#7) for the AT Racing team with drivers Alexander Talkanitsa and his son Alexander Talkanitsa Jr.

For 2012, AF Corse competed in a variety of sports car championships throughout Europe and globally, including the FIA World Endurance Championship and GT1 World Championship with Ferrari F458 Italia GT2s and Ferrari F458 Italia GT3s, including a co-branded for 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 overall-contender Anthony Davidson, sending the Toyota airborne at the Mulsanne Corner. Perazzini's Ferrari also flipped and landed on its roof after hitting the tyre barrier. Davidson suffered two broken vertebrae in the crash but was able to pull himself from the car in the immediate aftermath of the accident - though of course he was forced to abandon the race.^[4] 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 that year's edition of the FIA World Endurance Championship. After a successful season that year, including winning at Le Mans in the centenary edition – and Ferrari's first Le Mans in the top class in 50 years – the team decided to field a yellow-coloured privateer entry, and drafted 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 an engine failure.^[5]

The collaboration with the Ferrari Hypercar team has largely been a success, at Le Mans in particular, with the two factory cars (#51 and #50) winning the marquee event in 2023 and 2024 respectively. These back-to-back triumphs meant that all six of their works drivers, unchanged across the two years, have won the race: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in car #50, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in car #51.

Year	Entrant	No.	Car	Drivers	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	AF Corse Aucott Racing	78	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ben Aucott Joe Macari Adrian Newey	LMGT2	308	22nd	4th
2008	AF Corse	78	Ferrari F430 GT2	Thomas Biagi Christian Montanari Toni Vilander	LMGT2	111	DNF	DNF
2009	AF Corse	78	Ferrari F430 GT2	Gianmaria Bruni Luis Pérez Companc Matías Russo	LMGT2	317	26th	6th
2010	AF Corse SRL	95	Ferrari F430 GT2	Jean Alesi Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander	LMGT2	323	16th	4th
		96		Luis Pérez Companc Matías Russo Mika Salo		0	WD	WD
2011	PeCom Racing	49	Lola B11/40-Judd	Pierre Kaffer Luis Pérez Companc Matías Russo	LMP2	139	DNF	DNF
	AF Corse	71	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Rui Águas Robert Kauffman Michael Waltrip	LMGTE Pro	178	DNF	DNF
	AF Corse SRL	51		Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander		314	13th	2nd
		61	Ferrari F430 GT2	Seán Paul Breslin Marco Cioci Piergiuseppe Perazzini	LMGTE Am	188	DNF	DNF
2012	PeCom Racing	49	Oreca 03-Nissan	Soheil Ayari Pierre Kaffer Luis Pérez Companc	LMP2	352	9th	3rd
	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander	LMGTE Pro	336	17th	1st
		71		Olivier Beretta Andrea Bertolini Marco Cioci		326	22nd	4th
		81		Niki Cadei Matt Griffin Piergiuseppe Perazzini	LMGTE Am	70	DNF	DNF
	AF Corse-Waltrip	61		Rui Águas Robert Kauffman Brian Vickers		294	31st	6th
2013	PeCom Racing	49	Oreca 03-Nissan	Pierre Kaffer Nicolas Minassian Luis Pérez Companc	LMP2	325	10th	4th
	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Matteo Malucelli	LMGTE Pro	311	21st	6th
		71		Olivier Beretta Kamui Kobayashi Toni Vilander		312	20th	5th
		54		Jean-Marc Bachelier Howard Blank Yannick Mallégol	LMGTE Am	147	DNF	DNF
		55		Lorenzo Casè Darryl O'Young Piergiuseppe Perazzini		305	26th	2nd
		61		Marco Cioci Jack Gerber Matt Griffin		305	27th	3rd
	8 Star Motorsports	81		Rui Águas Jason Bright Enzo Potolicchio		294	37th	10th
2014	SMP Racing	27	Oreca 03R-Nissan	Anton Ladygin Mika Salo Sergey Zlobin	LMP2	303	37th	12th
		37		Kirill Ladygin Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian		9	DNF	DNF
		72	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini Viktor Shaytar	LMGTE Am	196	DNF	DNF
	AF Corse	51		Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander	LMGTE Pro	339	15th	1st
		71		Olivier Beretta Pierre Kaffer[N 1] Davide Rigon		28	DNF	DNF
		60		Lorenzo Casè Raffaele Giammaria Peter Mann	LMGTE Am	115	DNF	DNF
		61		Marco Cioci Luis Pérez Companc Mirko Venturi		331	22nd	3rd
		62		Jean-Marc Bachelier Howard Blank Yannick Mallégol		295	38th	14th
		81		Sam Bird Michele Rugolo Stephen Wyatt		22	DNF	DNF
	8 Star Motorsports	90		Frankie Montecalvo Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti		330	23rd	4th
2015	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander	LMGTE Pro	330	25th	3rd
		71		Olivier Beretta James Calado Davide Rigon		332	21st	2nd
		55		Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin Alex Mortimer	LMGTE Am	241	DNF	DNF
		61		Matteo Cressoni Raffaele Giammaria Peter Mann		326	31st	5th
		83		Rui Águas Emmanuel Collard François Perrodo		330	26th	4th
	SMP Racing	72		Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini Viktor Shaytar		332	20th	1st
2016	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 488 GTE	Gianmaria Bruni James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	LMGTE Pro	179	DNF	DNF
		71		Andrea Bertolini Sam Bird Davide Rigon		143	DNF	DNF
		55	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin Aaron Scott	LMGTE Am	289	43rd	11th
		83		Rui Águas Emmanuel Collard François Perrodo		331	27th	2nd
	Formula Racing	60		Johnny Laursen Mikkel Mac Christina Nielsen		319	35th	6th
	Clearwater Racing	61		Rob Bell Weng Sun Mok Keita Sawa		329	30th	4th
2017	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 488 GTE	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi Michele Rugolo	LMGTE Pro	312	46th	11th
		71		Sam Bird Miguel Molina Davide Rigon		339	21st	5th
	Spirit of Race	54		Olivier Beretta Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr	LMGTE Am	326	41st	12th
		55		Duncan Cameron Marco Cioci Aaron Scott		331	28th	2nd
	Clearwater Racing	60		Hiroki Katoh Álvaro Parente Richard Wee		327	40th	11th
		61		Matt Griffin Weng Sun Mok Keita Sawa		330	31st	5th
	DH Racing	83		Andrea Bertolini Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn		320	42nd	13th
2018	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra	LMGTE Pro	339	22nd	7th
		52		Pipo Derani Antonio Giovinazzi Toni Vilander		341	20th	5th
		71		Sam Bird Miguel Molina Davide Rigon		338	24th	9th
	Spirit of Race	54	Ferrari 488 GTE	Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella Thomas Flohr	LMGTE Am	335	26th	2nd
	Clearwater Racing	61		Matt Griffin Weng Sun Mok Keita Sawa		332	35th	8th
	MR Racing	70		Olivier Beretta Eddie Cheever III Motoaki Ishikawa		324	38th	9th
2019	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra	LMGTE Pro	342	20th	1st
		71		Sam Bird Miguel Molina Davide Rigon		140	DNF	DNF
	Spirit of Race	54	Ferrari 488 GTE	Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella Thomas Flohr	LMGTE Am	327	43rd	12th
	Car Guy Racing	57		Kei Cozzolino Takeshi Kimura Côme Ledogar		332	35th	5th
	Clearwater Racing	61		Matteo Cressoni Matt Griffin Luis Pérez Companc		331	37th	7th
	MR Racing	70		Olivier Beretta Eddie Cheever III Motoaki Ishikawa		328	41st	10th
2020	Cetilar Racing[7]	47	Dallara P217-Gibson	Andrea Belicchi Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto	LMP2	363	14th	10th
	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra	LMGTE Pro	346	21st	2nd
		71		Sam Bird Miguel Molina Davide Rigon		340	NC	NC
		52		Steffen Görig Christoph Ulrich Alexander West	LMGTE Am	80	DNF	DNF
		54		Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella Thomas Flohr		330	39th	13th
		83		Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen François Perrodo		339	26th	3rd
	Spirit of Race	55		Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin Aaron Scott		78	DNF	DNF
	Luzich Racing[8]	61		Côme Ledogar Oswaldo Negri Jr. Francesco Piovanetti		335	32nd	7th
	MR Racing[8]	70		Vincent Abril Kei Cozzolino Takeshi Kimura		172	DNF	DNF
2021	AF Corse	51	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	James Calado Côme Ledogar Alessandro Pier Guidi	LMGTE Pro	345	20th	1st
		52		Sam Bird Miguel Molina Daniel Serra		331	37th	5th
		54		Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella Thomas Flohr	LMGTE Am	329	39th	11th
		83		Nicklas Nielsen François Perrodo Alessio Rovera		340	25th	1st
	Cetilar Racing	47		Antonio Fuoco Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto		90	DNF	DNF
	Spirit of Race	55		Duncan Cameron Matthew Griffin David Perel		109	DNF	DNF
2022	AF Corse	83	Oreca 07-Gibson	Nicklas Nielsen François Perrodo Alessio Rovera	LMP2 (Pro-Am)	361	24th	4th
		51	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra	LMGTE Pro	350	29th	2nd
		52		Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Davide Rigon		349	30th	3rd
		21		Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander	LMGTE Am	339	41st	8th
		54		Nick Cassidy Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr		340	39th	6th
		61		Vincent Abril Conrad Grunewald Louis Prette		339	42nd	9th
	Spirit of Race	55		Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin David Perel		339	43rd	10th
		71		Gabriel Aubry Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues		127	DNF	DNF
	Inception Racing[9]	59		Marvin Klein Côme Ledogar Alexander West		190	DNF	DNF
2023	Ferrari AF Corse	50	Ferrari 499P	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Hypercar	337	5th	5th
		51		James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi		342	1st	1st
	AF Corse	80	Oreca 07-Gibson	Ben Barnicoat Norman Nato François Perrodo	LMP2 (Pro-Am)	183	DNF	DNF
		21	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ulysse de Pauw Simon Mann Julien Piguet	LMGTE Am	21	DNF	DNF
		54		Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon		312	31st	5th
	Richard Mille AF Corse	83		Luis Pérez Companc Alessio Rovera Lilou Wadoux		33	DNF	DNF
	Walkenhorst Motorsport[10]	100		Andrew Haryanto Chandler Hull Jeff Segal		307	36th	8th
2024	Ferrari AF Corse	50	Ferrari 499P	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Hypercar	311	1st	1st
		51		James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi		311	3rd	3rd
	AF Corse	83		Robert Kubica Robert Shwartzman Yifei Ye		248	DNF	DNF
		183	Oreca 07-Gibson	Ben Barnicoat François Perrodo Nicolás Varrone	LMP2 (Pro-Am)	297	18th	1st
	Vista AF Corse	54	Ferrari 296 GT3	Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon	LMGT3	30	DNF	DNF
		55		François Heriau Simon Mann Alessio Rovera		279	33rd	6th
	Spirit of Race	155		Conrad Laursen Johnny Laursen Jordan Taylor		279	35th	8th

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2021	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	Liam Lawson	16	3	4	1	10	227	2nd	1st
		Alex Albon	14	1	1	3	4	130	6th
		Nick Cassidy	2	0	0	1	0	11	16th
2022	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	Nick Cassidy	11	2	1	1	2	64	13th	7th
		Felipe Fraga	14	1	1	1	2	60	16th
		Ayhancan Güven	2	0	0	0	0	7	23rd
		Sébastien Loeb	2	0	0	0	0	0	32nd

AF Corse-Waltrip

Founded	2011
Folded	2013
Team principal(s)	Michael Waltrip Rob Kauffman
Former series	FIA World Endurance Championship (2012) Rolex Sports Car Series (2012–2013)
Noted drivers	Michael Waltrip (WEC/RSCC) Rob Kauffman (WEC/RSCC) Rui Águas (WEC/RSCC) Travis Pastrana (RSCC) Brian Vickers (WEC) Clint Bowyer (RSCC)

AF Corse-Waltrip, also known as AF-Waltrip, is a former professional sportscar team. The company was a 50–50 partnership between Michael Waltrip Racing NASCAR co-owners Michael Waltrip and Rob Kauffman. In 2011, Michael Waltrip Racing entered into a technical alliance with AF Corse to provide them sportscars to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Rolex Sports Car Series. AF Corse-Waltrip shut down their sportscar team in 2013 to concentrate on NASCAR.

Year	Class	Car	Engine	Driver	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2012	LMGTE Am	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		61	SEB	SPA	LMS	SIL	SÃO	BHR	FUJ	SHA	4th1	1081
				Rui Águas		4	DNS	4			2		4
				Rob Kauffman		4	DNS	4			2		4
				Michael Waltrip		4
				Brian Vickers			DNS	4			2
				Marco Cioci					1				4
				Piergiuseppe Perazzini					1
				Matt Griffin					1
				Enrique Bernoldi						3
				Xandy Negrão						3
				Francisco Longo						3

^1 There was no drivers championship that year, the result indicates team rank in the LMGTE Am Trophy.

Year	Class	Car	Engine	Driver	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
2012	GT	Ferrari 458 Italia	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		56	DAY	BIR	HOM	NJ	BEL	LEX	ELK	WAT	IMS	WAT	MON	LGA	LIM
				Rui Águas		35							11	14	15
				Robert Kauffman		35							11	14	15
				Travis Pastrana		35
				Michael Waltrip		35
2013	GT	Ferrari 458 Italia	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		56	DAY	TXS	BIR	ATL	BEL	LEX	WAT	IMS	ELK	KAN	LGA	LIM
				Rui Águas		17						14	14
				Robert Kauffman		17						14	14
				Clint Bowyer		17
				Michael Waltrip		17

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