The Imola city center and circuit were draped in Ferrari colours this weekend as the fabled Italian brand hosted its annual Finali Mondiali (World Finals) event and toasted its recent success at the Le Mans 24 Hours, hours before its Formula 1 team added to the joy with a 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix.
This year’s end-of-season meeting was as much of a celebration of Ferrari’s back-to-back Le Mans wins as it was a climactic race weekend for the European and North American Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli fields.
Throughout the week, Ferrari’s employees, customers and fans in attendance were granted access to a temporary Ferrari Exhibition in the paddock featuring 39 of the brand’s most significant race cars. This included rows of Formula 1 cars, the Ferrari 330 P4 which won the Daytona 24 Hours in 1967 and Risi Competizione’s 2024 Rolex 24 GTD-PRO winning 296 GT3.
The star attraction, though, was a display at the far end of the hall featuring both race-worn Le Mans-winning 499Ps, complete with the winning trophies.
“I haven’t focused on the other cars around them (in the exhibition)!” 2024 Le Mans winner Nicklas Nielsen told RACER. “Coming here is always special, but it’s even more special when you can see the car you won Le Mans in. Having the two cars here is a very nice sight.”
The No. 50, which won this year’s edition, was also presented on stage during Saturday night’s annual Ferrari Gala Dinner. After a brief photocall, the three winning drivers — Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina — plus the full set of senior management and the 2023 winners, received a standing ovation from a crowd made up of more than 1,000 VIP guests.
Throughout the weekend, there were frequent reminders that we are currently living through a golden era for Ferrari in sports car racing. Perhaps the most impressive examples of this came during the non-competitive sessions for Ferrari’s base of XX Program, F1 Clienti and Sport Prototipi Clienti customers.
A year on from the reveal of the 499P Modificata — an extreme, track-only version of Ferrari’s FIA WEC challenger — 10 examples were on site and running in Imola. Federica Santoro, the head of Ferrari’s XX and Monoposto Heritage programs, told RACER that the astonishing set of $5.4 million Modificatas in the paddock this past week represented “the majority of the models that exist.”
“We’ve done a good job of delivering these cars to a select number of customers who are already a part of our other non-competitive programs,” she explained. “It’s a complex car, so we need to take it slow with these drivers, make sure they learn how to drive it step by step. As part of this, we make sure they have time with our official drivers and go through data to ensure they enjoy the experience. But in terms of pleasure, because it’s free of regulations, it’s really enjoyable car for the drivers.”
The headline event of the weekend came earlier today after the Finale Mondiale winner-take-all sprint races: the Ferrari Show. This year, it began in central Imola with a road run featuring two of the three 499Ps which are currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category — the No. 50 and No. 83.
The tifosi lined the streets for the occasion, catching a glimpse of their heroes as the cars cruised to the circuit to join an array of Ferrari road and race cars taking part in the various demo runs.
The trackside show that followed was held in front of packed grandstands featuring a huge number of notable cars. The cast included the Rolex 24 class-winning Risi 296 GT3, the AF Corse Francorchamps Motors 296 GT3 which finished second in the centenary Spa 24 Hours, a number of cars from the F1 Clienti and XX Program stable, GT cars from Club Competizioni GT, a brand-new F80 supercar and all 10 of the 499P Modificatas.
“We had 33,000 people on site, which was really impressive considering the climate,” Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sports car boss, said in summary during a press conference this afternoon. “It’s always a pleasure to come to this circuit, the local region always helps us hold this unique event.
“Only Ferrari could organize a show like this at a very intense time emotionally, after winning Le Mans twice in two attempts against high-level competition.”
