How GT Drivers title was won: Ferrari pair fight through to the finale

Alessandro Pier Guidi made a dream start to life as a works Ferrari driver by combining with James Calado to win the GT FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship, the first year the GT Drivers’ prize has been awarded World Championship status.

Stepping in to fill the void left by former WEC champion Gianmaria Bruni, who departed to join Porsche after a decade of service with Ferrari, Pier Guidi settled in well and played his part as the Italian/British pairing took a first Drivers’ title since Bruni and Toni Vilander in 2014. 

Taking three wins and a further four podiums, no pairing won more or scored as many podiums than the AF Corse No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE. Calado’s run-in with a GTE Am class Aston Martin at Le Mans, leading to lengthy repairs to the radiator, proved to be one of the few low points in an otherwise excellent season.  

After following up the pair of 2nd places in the opening rounds at Silverstone and Spa with the much-delayed run to 14th at Le Mans, the Ferrari pair found their winning touch at the Nürburgring, the scene of Calado’s last WEC win one year previously. 

Fuel problems limited the No.51 team to 6th in Mexico, but further wins at COTA and Fuji – each time ahead of the No.91 Porsche of Richard Lietz and Fred Makowiecki – ensured they took the lead away from the No.67 Ford of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell heading into the final two races.

Engine issues in China for the No.92 Porsche of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen, surely the unluckiest GTE Pro pairing of the year, promoted Pier Guidi and Calado to 3rd and confirmed Ferrari as the Manufacturers’ champions for the 5th time in six years.  A 2nd place finish for the ultra-consistent Lietz and Makowiecki meant the No.51 Ferrari had only two points in hand heading to Bahrain.

However, Ferrari never looked troubled in the desert – the scene of much success in the past for AF Corse – and with Lietz and Makowiecki down in 4th, Pier Guidi and Calado could afford to give up the victory to the sister No.71 machine of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon without losing their grip on the title. 

In the first season for the new mid-engined Porsche 911 RSR, Lietz and Makowiecki didn’t manage to win, but finished in the top six at every race and finished 2nd three times on their way to the runners-up spot. Their best performances came in the two Asian races at Fuji and Shanghai, before contact with the LMP1 Toyota of José Maria Lopez in the closing stages dented Lietz’s hopes of catching the Ford of Priaulx and Tincknell.

Joined by Pipo Derani for a storming comeback win at Silverstone and a combative second at Le Mans, Priaulx and Tincknell had been the Ferrari pair’s main title rivals for much of the year, but the Brits’ challenge took a major hit in Fuji from which they could not recover. Fighting to get back on the lead lap after serving a penalty for a pitlane violation, Priaulx made contact with Estre’s Porsche and damaged a wheel, which failed under braking for turn one and pitched him into the wall.  

Although they closed the gap down to seven points heading to Bahrain with a fine victory in China for the second year running, Ford couldn’t match the pace of Ferrari and had to settle for third. 

Aston Martin won twice, but the new restrictions placed on tyre usage left the outgoing Vantage GTE at a disadvantage to the rest of the field. Team stalwart Darren Turner took his and AMR’s first victory at Le Mans since 2008 alongside team mates Jonny Adam and Brazilian rookie Daniel Serra, while outgoing champions Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen took the flag in Mexico after Bird and Rigon were penalised 10 seconds for a Full Course Yellow offence.