Ferrari in Portimão: historic successes in endurance racing

Inaugurated in 2008, the circuit hosting the 6 Hours of Portimão, the second round of the 2023 calendar, has a length of 4.684 kilometres and includes 16 curves. The track has become famous both for motorbike events and endurance car racing due to a layout that includes several ups and downs, very fast sections and curves of different radiuses. This mixed quality allows the reliability of the cars to be tested and performance to be pushed to the limit. With these characteristics in mind, the Ferrari – AF Corse team organised two test sessions with the 499P at the Portuguese track between last autumn and winter in preparation for the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. 

International wins. The Algarve venue hosted the World Endurance Championship for the first time in 2021, organising the 8 Hours of Portimão, which replaced Sebring as the opening leg of the season. On that occasion, Ferrari took victory in the LMGTE Pro class with the AF Corse 488 GTE driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado ahead of the “sister” car of Daniel Serra and Miguel Molina. The race also ended with success in LMGTE Am courtesy of Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto, in the 488 GTE of Cetilar Racing. 

GT wins. For the first time, Ferrari crossed the line in first position at Portimão in the autumn of 2008, when a F430 Challenge driven by Alfredo Palencia and Antonio Puig won in the GTB class at the Campeonato de España. The same Maranello model celebrated further overall and class victories in 2009 during the two rounds of the International GT Open, and in 2010 when Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo finished first in the GT2 class in the Le Mans Series. 

This winning tradition was confirmed by the Ferrari 458 which triumphed twice in the International GT Open in the GT2 (2011) and GTS classes with the car in GT3 configuration (2013). 

In recent years, the Ferrari 488 GTE has proven to be one of the brightest cars in the European Le Mans Series, achieving success in the 4 Hours of Portimão 2019 – with the car driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi and Nicklas Nielsen supported by Fabien Lavergne – 2021 and 2022. The 488 GT3 Evo 2020 has also made a name for itself by picking up several first places in its class, most recently in 2022 during the Le Mans Cup when Hiroshi Koizumi and Kei Cozzolino won with the AF Corse car.