Pier Guidi: Final Two Stints “Wasn’t Easy At All”

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Alessandro Pier Guidi said his closing double stint to victory in Sunday’s 6 Hours of Imola wasn’t clear sailing, as it involved a number of strategic choices and challenges, primarily from BMW.

Pier Guidi guided the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P to a historic FIA World Endurance Championship victory on home soil, finishing eight seconds clear of the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 in a race that saw numerous different race strategies.

While Pier Guidi’s co-drivers James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi enjoyed a relatively clear-sailing first two-thirds of the race out front, the final stanza presented several variables that the Italian feels put its sure-fire victory in some doubt.

“It wasn’t easy at all,” said Pier Guidi. “When the BMW jumped in front of us after the pit lane they told me I was short on fuel.

“The pressure was there. It was difficult to keep the pace. I had to stay there close because I knew that they were stopping ten seconds longer than us.

“With the traffic, it was quite crucial in Imola.

“Then when I saw some drops of rain, I was starting to think about what happened last year. I think we were really focused on not repeating the mistakes we did [last year].

“Luckily the team did an amazing job with the strategy in the car.

“At the end I had to push until the last two or three laps. When I was pushing my whole stint I had a fuel target, so it was not easy at all.”

With the threat of rain showers, the No. 51 Ferrari was fitted with Michelin’s Soft tire compound, which typically excels in the coldest of conditions.

“At the end we knew the Soft was not really the perfect compound on a dry and sunny track but we did a forecast that there could have been rain,” explained Pier Guidi.

“I think it was the safe choice and also a bit more aggressive. The car was maybe not as good as it was in terms of driving but in terms of lap time it was very close to the Mediums.

“We just had a concern about the deg. At the end being able to change one side, we were banking a bit on the others to change one side and we managed to finish the race.

“In my first few laps starting on the restart, I had to introduce them quite slowly. I didn’t use the peak of the Soft in order to try to go to the end and save as much of the tire. It worked quite good and was quite consistent.

“Also the forecast at the end was cloudy so the track temperature was OK for the Soft as well.”

Calado, meanwhile, said the race was “never easy” for the team despite its clear pace advantage all weekend.

“This morning at our strategy meeting we realized that it was going to be quite close,” he said. “Of course we know that we have a fast car underneath us but we know the other manufacturers were there.

“And we saw that in the timesheets.

“Ok the race was neutralized a few times but the BMW, especially, was a surprise at the end when we saw them in front. They still had a stop but they had the pace to stay in front at that point.

“The car was dialed in this weekend but it’s never easy. We’ve seen throughout all these last races how close it’s been with the introduction of all these manufacturers as well, it’s generally a great championship at the moment. I’m proud to be involved in it.”

Pier Guidi added: “In the end, if you look the podium with three different brands, you understand how difficult it’s to win in WEC.

“It’s great to win in front of our Tifosi. If you look under the podium, it was incredible. We couldn’t have chosen a better race to win.”