AF Corse

AF Corse

File:AF corse logo.png
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)
Noted drivers	James Calado, Antonio Fuoco, Antonio Giovinazzi, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, Alessandro Pier Guidi
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, DTM, and International GT Open, and are four-time champions of the GT2 class of the former FIA GT Championship. 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).

History

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 be assigned to the team, eventually 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.

One of AF Corse's Ferrari F430 GT2s.

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. 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.

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.

AF Corse's Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 at Zhuhai International Circuit.

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. 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.

Results

24 Hours of Le Mans

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

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

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

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.

Racing Results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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.

Rolex Sports Car Series Points

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

External links

• Official website