AF Corse has confirmed that two of its factory drivers, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, will join Robert Kubica in the team’s private, or customer, Ferrari 499P in this year’s FIA World Ebdurance Championship.
AF Corse will also run Ferrari’s factory 499P programme, with the manufacturer retaining all six of the drivers from the programme’s first season last year.
Kubica was confirmed in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P car late last year, when the 2024 WEC entry list was released. Ye, formerly associated with Porsche and a driver in the #38 JOTA Porsche 963, was announced to be joining Ferrari as a factory driver shortly after, although it was not stated what his 2024 programme would consist of at the time.
Shwartzman, meanwhile, has been with Ferrari for multiple years, and is the current Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver in Formula 1. He raced for the Italian manufacturer in the GT World Challenge series last year, winning alongside his teammates at the final race of the year at Catalunya, in Spain.
However, this will be his first year competing in WEC, and indeed his first year competing in a sports prototype.
“We are delighted to give our official drivers the chance to take part in the entire FIA WEC season in the number 83 Ferrari 499P of the AF Corse team,” said Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s global head of endurance and Corse Clienti.
“Yifei has made a name for himself in recent seasons by winning two endurance racing titles. Now he can prove himself in the top world championship category with a Ferrari Hypercar.
“In contrast, Robert will get to continue on his path with a new challenge after a successful 2023 season that saw him win in Barcelona with the 296 GT3 and adapt brilliantly to the 499P during rookie testing in Bahrain.”
The 2024 WEC season begins with the 1812km of Qatar, on Saturday 2nd March.
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