Ferrari driver Miguel Molina hailed his home event on the FIA World Endurance Championship calendar as a podium-worthy moment, describing it as a “special result” while acknowledging that Toyota operated on a different level altogether.
Molina, Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco steered the No. 50 Ferrari 499P to third place in the 6 Hours of Barcelona, but despite a clean run, they crossed the line nearly 40 seconds behind the two Toyota TR010 Hybrids as the Japanese manufacturer celebrated the manufacturers’ title in style.
For Molina, a third place represented the best possible outcome Ferrari could have hoped for, particularly given the surprise addition of Barcelona to the WEC lineup in place of Qatar. He was delighted to stand on the podium in his homeland, even though Barcelona was not originally on the schedule.
“It’s a really special race for me because I’m really linked to this race track, I’m really happy to experience this,” he said.
“The result paid off and hope in the future we can experience it again.
“Toyota was in another league today. When they need to push, they push and they have something extra.”
“At the end, they showed it again — they showed it in Le Mans, they showed it here — and we knew it was time for them to win the championship.”
“We took the best of the rest and that’s the most important thing because it was a special result for me here at my home track.”
With the sister factory 499P finishing outside the points, and Toyota sealing a dominant 1-2, Ferrari’s faint hopes of defending the manufacturers’ title through to Monza were extinguished.
“This year has been a difficult one — we’ve had good races and bad races,” Molina reflected.
“But, in the end, you need to be really consistent in this championship, it’s getting more close and close.
“We will try next year again and for sure the goal will be to win again.”
While the No. 50 crew maximized the car’s potential in Barcelona, it was a difficult day for the No. 51 entry of Antonio Govinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi as they ultimately finished 15th.
They had climbed from 14th on the grid to fifth in the second hour, but Calado confronted a tough opening stint as the track dried and crews switched to slick tires, further hampered by the limiter briefly sticking at the end of a Full-Course Yellow.
The No. 51 fell a lap behind during the final safety car and then had to make an emergency stop during the last FCY, amplifying a tough day.
“We had a bit of everything, we missed a bit of pace, we had some issues, we had some bad luck with the strategy — it was a race to forget,” Pier Guidi told Sportscar365.
“In the wet we were okay and in the dry we suffered a bit more. But sometimes when you do a compromise in terms of setup expecting a longer wet period, maybe that can happen.”
Pier Guidi said it was “not a big difference” to have its dwindling drivers’ and manufacturers’ title chances ended with a race to go, adding: “When you lose one race before the last race, it’s the same — when you lose, you lose, that’s it.”
“Maybe we’re more open-minded in Monza and we just go for the race, but actually we were doing the same here because we know the title chance was really small.”
“It’s part of the game. Of course, you try to win — everyone is here to try to win — but sometimes it’s just like this.”
