FERRARI WINS LE MANS AFTER 50 YEARS

The Italian automaker Ferrari returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a 50-year hiatus, and while the company hasn’t had much to celebrate in Formula One recently, they did it with a bang.

Among the other two legs of the “Triple Crown,” the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans is one of the most prestigious races in all of racing. The team with the most laps at the end of the 24-hour period is declared the winner.

After such a historic victory in the Le Mans race, the team must be at the top of their game to continue producing victories. Since this triumph occurred so recently, supporters are pumped up and eager to see what comes next.

From the year 2023 on, the Ferrari 499P will be the top-tier Le Mans Hypercar competing in the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship. The Prancing Horse has always designated their prototypes with a ‘P,’ where the numbers before the ‘P’ indicate the engine’s nominal displacement.

The idea for this automobile came from decades ago. As of now, the red squad has won 22 world championships and 9 overall victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In honor of Ferrari’s final works entry 50 years ago, the 499P will make its premiere at the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March with a livery evocative of the famous 312P from the 1970s. In addition to 50, one of Maranello’s endurance cars will sport 51, one of the team’s most successful racing numbers to date.

you for showing up for the support it was great to see you in the autograph session the massive line of people all went on autograph so we appreciate it a lot and yeah we thrive off your support its so amazing to know we have dedicated fans in Japan

FUSION: What are your feelings on being a part of such a legacy? Ferrari has a very immaculate image, and everybody who associates with it always feels good to possess a Ferrari automobile.

James: It is genuinely fantastic to be a part of Ferrari. I‘m always grateful to be a part of the biggest brand in motorsport, one of the most successful brands, and you know to get championship wins in GT and to win them on outright is something absolutely amazing it was always a dream when I was a boy so yeah we‘ll continue to try and get more wins more championships and yeah it‘s the best team.

FUSION: How do you feel about the racing sector being increasingly engaged in Hollywood films?

James yeah, there‘s a lot more recognition in in in endurance racing and Lamont especially after our win, and I think there will be a few films few books made definitely in the future, which really brings the crowd this year especially we‘ve seen so many more people so much more support at every race, and I think the championship is growing in an in a good way.

FUSION What motivates you to keep racing, and how do you keep yourself fueled and inspired for all the races you enter?

James I think that winning is the biggest part of this sport that we do, that‘s why we do it, you know to cross the line to contain the checkered flag first is always the most amazing emotion, and I think you know that‘s why we continue to work so hard, and of course the speed of these cars is phenomenal, so yeah i I love my job.

My name is NICKY CATSBURG. I'm a driver for the 33 Corvette racing team, and we have won the championship, so I'm really delighted to be here in Fuji, hoping for a nice outcome here as well, but we can already call ourselves Champions.

FUSION: Please tell us a little bit about yourself for our readers who are reading this. How did you get your start in this industry?

NICKY: I didn't start racing in go karts until I was 15, but cars had always been a passion of mine growing up; my family owned a car dealership, so I got plenty of practice behind the wheel at a young age. But it wasn't until I was 15 or 16 that I began seriously pursuing motorsports, and it took a while for me to realize that I had a talent for it.

FUSION: Discuss your driving experiences, including hurdles, blunders, and challenges.

NICKY: well, when you make mistakes on the racetrack, you try to learn from them. Our team, including the engineers who work behind the scenes, collects all the data we need to figure out where, what, and why something went wrong. From there, we work to improve our processes and our cars so that we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

FUSION: For newcomers to coming into the racing scene, and how do what can you share on getting started? What if someone wants to do this and join the motosport what can they expect?

NICKY: I absolutely love being a race car driver it's my dream job and the atmosphere here on the race tracks especially in Japan is amazing so we feel very privileged to be doing this job and I'm I'm very happy to be able to travel the world and visit places like Japan this is actually one of my favorite places to go to Fuji is a really nice race track but I love the country I love the culture I love the people and I cannot wait to go back.

FUSION: How does it feel to be a member of the Corvette family and a racer, and how does it compare to all competitors?

NICKY: It's been a lifelong dream of mine to race for the legendary Corvette, and now that the opportunity has presented itself, I couldn't be happier to be a part of this incredible team. I've already won the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours with Corvette, and I'm confident we'll continue to rack up more victories in the future.

FUSION: What does it mean to you that race culture is spreading to Hollywood and that more films on motorsports are being produced?

NICKY: Yes, we're seeing more and more of Motorsports on TV, of course, with the F1 drive through survive on Netflix recently, as well as the GT Academy Nissan movie, so it's great that it's getting more exposure, and we're all very glad to be a part of it. I loved seeing this latest movie because I was there when young Martin bro was doing his first races out there on track and making a name for himself and it's very cool that it's getting the attention that it deserves now so I can only applaud and promote it and I would love for there to be even more movies around so I can't wait to see us more on TV.

FUSION: Discuss your sources of inspiration and what keeps you motivated to achieve what you do.

NICKY: Yeah, so my inspirations have always been race car drivers who have had very long careers and do multiple things, you know in the Netherlands you have a driver you won't Blake Mullin who has always had a career that I kind of dreamed of doing all the big races and winning them as well you know you don't have to make it to F1 to have a good career so I'm very happy with where I'm at right now doing all the big GT races in the world and it always motivates me

FUSION What's next for you, what are you focusing on today, and what can we anticipate from you and Corvette in the next days?

NICKY: So, Nico Veron, Ben Keating, and I won the title this year. Yeah, we basically had the dream season we started with a win in Sebring and another win in Portimo and a second place in Spa a win in Le Man and now we're in Fuji we finished before that was our worst result of the season but we did win the championship with that so we've had a dream season I mean those guys have done a perfect job and it was very enjoyable for me to work with them so now we have two races left the race here in Fuji and the race in Bahrain

FUSION: What recommendations would you provide to someone who wishes to try their hand at driving?

NICKY: Yeah, I would tell anyone who wants to go into motorsport to keep chasing their dreams because it's not going to be easy because motorsport, especially in the beginning, is an expensive sport that requires some support and it's not easy to make a start but if you can dream it, you can do it and you know it wasn't easy for me either because I had many times where I thought OK, I might have to stop now but keep trying and asking all your local companies and friends and family to supoort you!

FUSION: What does it mean to you to be a part of the WEC's 6-hour Fuji speedway?

NICKY: As a driver, it's a dream come true to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The competition is fierce, the manufacturers are all present, and the events take place in breathtaking locations around the globe.

Michelle Gatting is a Danish racing driver. We had the opportunity to chat with her about her views about the races, what she plans to achieve in the near future, and the challenges she confronts as she enters the Motorsports sector.

Michelle : My name is Michelle Gatting, I am 29 years old, I am from Denmark, and I am a professional racing driver for the project Iron Dames. I started racing when I was seven years old, more or less by chance, when I tried a go Kart on a holiday in the South of France and fell in love with it.

I essentially told my parents that I wanted to be a racing driver, and they were like, OK, I suppose we have to accept that, but here I am, almost 20 years later, or slightly more than 20 years later, being a professional racing driver.

FUSION : What motivates you as a professional driver?

Michelle : I’m the type of person who is full of stubbornness and willingness you know I’m not the type of person who comes from a family where my family has been supporting my racing since I started our beloved sport that we love to do so much and wish we could basically do every day is a very expensive sport and that’s where it makes it very difficult unfortunately for a lot of drivers and so it did for me because yeah you need to be able to sell yourself.

At the end of the day, you need a lot of money to be able to raise and the higher you go in rankings championships cars whatever the more expensive it is but of course all racing drivers if you walk through the paddock here and ask the drivers they’re all either trying to achieve becoming professional being paid drivers or at least trying to achieve not paying to race I mean this is the goal for mainly all race drivers but yeah it’s one of the challenges

FUSION : Did you ever take a step back and wonder if this career route was right for you, or have you taken some steps back and thought you may doubt yourself as a professional driver?

Michelle : I had to ask myself a million times if I really wanted to keep going because so many times I wasn’t given opportunities because I didn’t come with the money that was needed. But I knew deep down that I had to tell him, because whenever I was given the chance to test in a certain car with a certain team, I was always proving myself, showing potential.

I mean, there were a lot of times when I wanted to give up, and that’s why this project’s slogan is women driven by dreams, and we’re always telling the young girls and young drivers to never give up. It’s very cliche to tell someone don’t give up, keep fighting, but in the end, every one of the iron dames has been through a career where we had to stop racing for a season because they didn’t have money, we didn’t have sponsors.

We had to battle our way through, and we had to hear people say, “You don’t have what it takes, you’ll never get there,” so all of those people who said you’d never get there are the reason I’m here today.

FUSION : As a woman, how do you feel about this business being dominated by men in Motorsports, where do you see yourself fitting in, and what are your goals for the future?

Michelle Yeah, it’s a male-dominated sport, especially when I started in it 20 years ago, a little more than 20 years ago, there was really no space for girls all women in this sport you had to prove yourself and i think the same can be said today, we still still have to prove ourselves every time we go in the car because at the end of the day the only way of gaining respect and I think that doesn’t matter if it’s motorsport or whatever it is if it’s in business first to gain respect

The lap times we set will demonstrate that whenever we’re in a race with another driver, whether they’re trying to overtake us or we’re trying to overtake them, we put our elbows out to show that we’re not going to make it easy for them, and of course, whenever they see the pink car, they know it’s one of the three girls driving.

I think with the years that we’ve done as this project, first and foremost trying to inspire a lot of girls but people in general because that’s been the whole goal of the project is to inspire people and we’ve done that by making results in the end by winning championships by winning races by making pole positions and in the end I think walking through the paddock here asking what people think about this project if they think of us as oh it’s the girls or if they think of us as

Michelle : We feel very well respected, but it took a long time, a lot of fights, and a lot of times where we needed to prove ourselves, and I think for every girl out there, whatever they’re doing, it’s always about proving how hard you’re working and showing your competitors’ side. All those things that are required in order to perform to produce results and then every time you are in the game or at the track or on the court or whatever you just give it everything and when the game is over you can say to yourself I did everything I could today maybe it wasn’t enough but I will try again next time and this is what drives us.

FUSION : How does it feel to be at the WEC race in Fuji, and what thoughts do you have now that you’re here?

Michelle I’m very proud to be here and there in the fair world indoor championship. It’s the highest level of endurance championship that you can race in, and we’ve been here for a few years now. This year, we were fighting to win the championship until we were defeated by our, shall we say, toughest competitor, Corvette. We still have a shot at the title of “whatwise world champion,” and we still have a shot at finishing second in the championship (of which we are obviously proud), but we are not yet satisfied with either result. Tomorrow, we will start the race from second place, and we are eager to finally take home the championship trophy.

FUSION : When this race is complete, what are you planning to do next?

Michelle When asked why they are so dedicated to racing, drivers often say things like, “Well, the season isn’t over yet, so there are still more races to go;”

“When you ask us, basically our whole life goes around racing;”

“When the season is over, we prepare for the next season;”

“We know we can’t be racing forever, and that’s one key thing; you can’t be racing until you’re old and gray.”

FUSION : I was wondering what words of wisdom you would have for women who are interested in pursuing this line of work or who are attempting to make it in a traditionally male-dominated field.

Michelle It’s important to have family support; one of the things that helped me succeed was the encouragement of my loved ones, who told me, “Look, we know it’s going to be tough, and it was tough, and it still is tough, but you can do this.”

Then it will be simpler to enter because there will be moments when you’ll think, “No, this isn’t for me, and maybe it’s not for you,” but at least if you have this eagerness inside of you that you want to give it a try, all I can say is “Go for it, try it out, and see how it goes.” because sometimes you will be surprised and yeah this board can be scary because at the end of the day we’re driving race cars and going super fast and of course if speed is not for you then for sure it’s an it’s difficult but it’s really something that you get addicted to I tell you.