Porsche "still the reference" with new car - Calado
Ferrari driver James Calado believes Porsche will remain the "reference" team in the GTE Pro class of the FIA World Endurance Championship next season with its all-new 911 RSR-19.
Porsche is the only GTE Pro manufacturer heading into the new campaign with an unproven car, and has already dismissed the notion that it could be disadvantaged by the class's automated Balance of Performance (BoP) system as Aston Martin and BMW were last season.
While Ferrari ended last month's Prologue test narrowly ahead, Calado says the evidence from private testing shows Porsche remains the squad to beat.
"The Porsche is there – in testing and tyre testing they’ve always been quicker," Calado told Motorsport.com. "They’re the reference.
"It will be close hopefully. It’s the same BoP as where we finished the last [six-hour] WEC race [at Spa], so we’re at a disadvantage. It will be similar kind of story to then and what we saw at Sebring, that kind of pace."
He added: "Coming in with a new car, you never know what will actually happen, but I do know as a driver with a new car you’ve more to play with, more things to hide, and I’m sure a team like Porsche will manage that really well. I’m sure their car is quicker than ours.
"On the other side, we showed at Le Mans that we’ve improved, we’re developing the car all the time, developing the tyres all the time, and I think we’ll be quicker than last year. Whether it’s enough, I don’t know."
Miguel Molina, who replaces Sam Bird alongside Davide Rigon in Ferrari's #71 car this season, likewise sees Porsche as the team to beat in 2019/20.
"As I know from when I was in the DTM, whenever you bring out a new car or an evolution it is always better," Molina told Motorsport.com. "Then, they already had a great car last year and this year they will have improved it much more.
"They will not show anything until the first races, but logically they will have a significant margin of which we hope to be up to later.
"We have a good base, we are optimising weak points that we had in the car and I hope to be able to squeeze it to the maximum level and make a great season."
Molina also agreed with Calado's assessment that the hangover from last year's auto-BoP is likely to affect Ferrari's chances in the Silverstone opener.
"They still have a bit of an advantage and we are a bit disadvantaged in that regard," he said. "Hopefully if not in the first race, from the second we can be a little more competitive.
#71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo: Davide Rigon
Photo by: Ferrari
Maldonado drops out of JOTA LMP2 line-up
Toyota gets weight penalty for Silverstone WEC opener
How Toyota’s sole survivor turned the tables at Spa
After a chastening opening to the season at Sebring that ended in an enormous accident, Toyota's #7 crew got their World Endurance Championship underway with victory at a treacherously slippery Spa to make up for its sister car's Sebring defeat to Alpine, as Glickenhaus's promising qualifying turned to disaster in the race
How Toyota's WEC dominance was curbed at stormy Sebring
Toyota’s stranglehold on the FIA World Endurance Championship ended at the 2022 opener at Sebring, but all accusing eyes were on the Balance of Performance system as the key to the shake-up. Here's how it unfolded, to see Alpine celebrating under a stormy sky having blown away the defending champions...
Why Penske remains ambitious for its WEC learning year
Team Penske is gearing up for its role in running Porsche’s LMDh programme from 2023 by entering this year's World Endurance Championship with an LMP2 car. Although the team is considering 2022 as a season to learn, it is no less serious about winning than ever - which should make the already fiercely competitive class even more so
Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022
Ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of its new 9X8 Hypercar, Peugeot revealed that it would not be entering this year's Le Mans 24 Hours with its incoming machinery. Although development restrictions for homologated cars are partially responsible, the French marque can draw on its own lessons from its history in sportscars
Why the GTP name undermines convergence between IMSA and WEC
OPINION: The adoption by IMSA of the GTP name for its forthcoming LMDh versus Le Mans Hypercar era in 2023 appeals to fans of nostalgia - but it undermines the commonality achieved by bringing its rulebook into line with the WEC. GTP or Hypercar, both sides should settle on a single name
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
Why F1-snubbed Davidson has no regrets in retirement
He may not have won the Le Mans 24 Hours - falling agonisingly short in 2016 - and didn't get the opportunities in Formula 1 his talents merited. But after calling time on his professional career last month, Anthony Davidson says his pride in his performances with Peugeot and Toyota in LMP1 mean more than the results he achieved
Why Le Mans didn't decide Toyota's WEC title outcome in 2021
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez scored a second successive FIA World Endurance Championship title in the #7 Toyota, as its new Le Mans Hypercar went unbeaten. Motorsport.com recaps how each of the four classes in the 2021 season were won and picks out the best LMH and GTE drivers