The driver lineup for a third, privately-funded Ferrari 499P Hypercar for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship is set to be announced with the official full series entries on Monday, with a Formula 1 race winner leading the new trio of drivers.
The third Ferrari, which will race alongside the pair of full works cars from Ferrari AF Corse, will compete under the AF Corse SRL banner and is set to feature former F1 star Robert Kubica (pictured above) — who was announced as an AF Corse driver for 2024 earlier this week and tested a 499P at Imola that same day — and Chinese driver Yifei Ye.
“I’m happy that my path and the path of AF Corse will be the same next season,” said Kubica, who raced with the WRT team in LMP2 in the WEC this year. “AF is one of the most successful teams ever in motorsport: I’m sure we’ll do a great job together. What’s more, I’m back in an Italian team, which is no small matter.”
Initially, it was expected that the third car would feature backing from Richard Mille, the watchmaker and FIA Endurance Commission president, following his GTE Am effort with the Italian brand in 2023. However, the funding package is now believed to be from Asia, bringing Ye into the program.
Ye, who competed with Hertz Team JOTA’s Porsche 963 in the WEC this season, will therefore compete against his former team in the WEC’s Hypercar teams’ championship for privately entered Hypercars next season. His move leaves JOTA — which is set to scale up to a two-car Hypercar effort in 2024 — with another seat to fill for the forthcoming campaign, as Antonio Felix da Costa has also been pried away from the British team due to his Formula E commitments with Porsche.
In the third Ferrari Ye is set to be joined by former Formula 1 star Robert Kubica, who was announced as an AF Corse driver for 2024 earlier this week and tested a 499P at Imola that same day.
The driver trio is expected to be completed by Ferrari F1 reserve driver Robert Shwartzman. The Russo-Israeli driver also has experience behind the wheel of a 499P, having sampled the car at the post-season Bahrain rookie test earlier this month, where he confirmed to RACER his interest in a race seat.
“I am open to everything — I am not just focused on F1,” he said. “I really hope that after this test there will be an opportunity to try and race the Hypercar and get the whole experience in endurance racing.”
The 2024 FIA WEC entry to be released on Monday is expected to include 37 cars overall.