Yifei Ye becomes an official Ferrari driver
After announcing (23/11/23) a third Ferrari 499P will be lined up for the AF Corse team in the WEC’s Hypercar class with #83 and that Robert Kubica will represent the Italian team in 2024,
📷 © Courtesy of Ferrari.
Ferrari is now announcing Yifei Ye will be an official Ferrari driver from the 2024 season.
Four titles in different categories stand out in Ye’s list of victories. The driver became the French Formula 4 champion in 2016, winning 14 of the 23 races on the calendar, and did likewise in the Euroformula Open in 2020 with 11 seasonal triumphs.
Starting endurance racing with two titles
Born in Xi’an (China), after his experience in single-seaters, Ye started endurance racing in 2021. Ye started the season by winning the LMP2 class of the Asian Le Mans Series with G-Drive Racing, partnering René Binder and Ferdinand Habsburg.
📷 © Luc Warnotte. Team WRT Oreca #41 (Yifei Ye, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica) wins 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and clinch European Le Mans Series championship.
Ye would then clinch the ELMS championship with a round to go after winning at Spa-Francorchamps driving for Team WRT alongside Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica.
Yifei was the first driver to win both championships in a year.
24 Hours of Le Mans
📷 © Luc Warnotte. Team WRT Oreca #41 (Yifei Ye, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021.
In August 2021, together with Delétraz and Kubica in #41 Team WRT Oreca, he led the race for much of its concluding phase but did experience an electrical failure on the very last lap of the race, forcing Ye to retire from the lead. As they didn’t cross the checkered flag, the #41 squad was unclassified in the final results.
in 2022, together with Ricky Taylor and Niklas Kruetten in Cool Racing Oreca #37 he ended 11th overall and 7th in LMP2 class.
📷 © Luc Warnotte. #38 Hertz JOTA Porsche 963 (Yofei Ye, Antonio Felix da Costa and Will Stevens) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023.
In 2023, he drove the #38 Hertz JOTA Porsche 963 to P40 together with Antonio Felix da Costa and Will Stevens.
Quotes.
📷 © Courtesy of Ferrari.
YIFEI YE: “When I heard I would be an official Ferrari driver, I was thrilled. For me, this is a dream come true. This new sporting chapter opening with the Prancing Horse is definitely a milestone in my career.”
GLOBAL HEAD OF ENDURANCE AND CORSE CLIENTI ANTONELLO COLETTA: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Yifei to Ferrari, a driver who despite his young age has been able to emerge as one of the fastest in the World Endurance Championship. Excellent results stand out in Yifei’s endurance racing career: from this starting point, we’re confident that we can build a positive pathway together within the Prancing Horse family.” Source: Ferrari
The 23-year-old Chinese driver’s sporting program with the Prancing Horse will be announced shortly. Speculation are that he will join Robert Kubica in the AF Corse #83 customer Ferrari 499P in Hypercar.
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