Ferrari set for Spa WEC appeal hearing

The FIA International Court of Appeal will rule on the appeal made by the factory Ferrari AF Corse team after it unsuccessfully challenged the decision of the race stewards to restart the Spa 6 Hours on 11 May beyond the scheduled finish time of the race and therefore the provisional results of the third round of the 2024 WEC.

The protest was rejected by the stewards, but Ferrari’s factory Hypercar team exercised its right of appeal the following week. 

The two factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars were running 1-2 when the race was red-flagged four hours and 13 minutes into the race. 

The need for extensive barrier repairs prevented the race from being restarted within the original six-hour timeframe but the stewards decided to resume the event beyond the scheduled 19:00 finish. 

A further one hour and 44 minutes of racing — the remaining time on the clock at the stoppage minus the time it took for the cars to line up on the start-finish straight – began at 17:10.

Ferrari ended up finishing third and fourth with its #50 and #51 entries after the winning #12 Jota Porsche 963 LMDh and the second-placed #6 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport entry gained time because they had pitted just before the stoppage. 

Ferrari has re-iterated the position outlined by its sportscar racing boss, Antonello Coletta, when it confirmed it was pushing ahead with the appeal. 

He said that he wanted clarification of the rules for the future.

FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams Podium: Race winner #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, second place #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963: Neel Jani, Julien Andlauer, third place #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Batti Pregliasco, team manager of the AF factory Hypercar team, told Motorsport.com at this weekend’s Austin round of the WEC: “Why are we making an appeal? Because we want to understand if this can happen again because it can affect sporting matters.”

Extending the timeframe in which the Spa race took place was unusual if not unprecedented in the history of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012, but was allowed under the series sporting regulations. 

They state: “If the circumstances so require the stewards may take the decision to stop and/or modify the race time set. 

“This may not exceed the time of the competition [meaning six hours in the case of Spa].”

An explainer sent out by the FIA in the wake of the race stated that the decision to complete the full duration of the race at Spa “ensured sporting fairness for the competitors, who set their strategies for a six-hour race”. 

Ferrari’s protest was ruled inadmissible because the steward’s decision cannot be protested, according to the international sporting code. 

The Jota team has confirmed that it will be represented at the hearing.