AF Corse is an Italian

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

and

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

brands, AF Corse currently competes in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

, GT World Challenge Europe,

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

, Asian Le Mans Series,

DTM DTM may refer to: Sport * Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000 * Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995 Computing * Deterministic T ...

, and International GT Open, and are four-time champions of the GT2 class of the former FIA GT Championship. The team has also entered cars under Advanced Engineering, AT Racing, Pecom Racing, Spirit of Race, Formula Racing, 8Star Motorsports and MR Racing, and in association with

Michael Waltrip Racing Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership betwe ...

(AF Waltrip).

History

In 1995, Amato Ferrari (no relation to the family of Enzo Ferrari and his

car company) retired from driving and chose to concentrate on team management, initially entering the Italian Superturismo Championship. Following the series' demise in 1999, Ferrari launched a new team known as AF Corse, named for his initials. The team turned to sports car racing, and within a year was contracted by

. AF Corse was tasked with the development, maintenance, and transport of the Trofeo Cup, a one-make series based on the Maserati Coupé. The company would continue in this position until 2005. During 2004, Maserati approached AF Corse about running their latest development in sports car racing: the new Maserati MC12 for the international FIA GT Championship. The team aided Maserati in testing and developing the car before running the two new racers in their home event at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

. Drivers Fabrizio de Simone, Andrea Bertolini, Mika Salo, and Johnny Herbert were all be assigned to the team, eventually earning AF Corse two victories before the season ended. Once the development of the MC12 was satisfied, the company returned to running the Trofeo Cup, as well as running a Maserati Light in the 2005

Italian GT Championship The Italian GT Championship (''Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo'') is an Italian sports car series founded in 2003 and organized by the Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI) and the Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana (CSAI). It replaced a ...

AF Corse returned to the FIA GT Championship in 2006. This time however they would be running the latest Ferrari offering, the Ferrari F430, as well as competing in the series' lower category, the GT2 class. Salo was retained in the driving line-up, while newcomers Rui Águas, Jaime Melo, and Matteo Bobbi completed the standard line-up. Victory was earned in the team's debut at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, and another two were earned over the season, including at the Spa 24 Hours. AF Corse won the class championship, beating fellow Ferrari competitor Scuderia Ecosse. The company retained their connection to Maserati however, entering a trio of cars in the new FIA GT3 European Championship. As defending champions, AF Corse remained in the FIA GT Championship in 2007, although much on the team changed. While the Ferrari F430s remained, all new drivers were introduced to the team. Dirk Müller, Toni Vilander, Gianmaria Bruni, and

Stephane Ortelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece) A stephane (''ancient Greek'' στέφανος, from ''στέφω'' (stéphō, “I encircle”), '' Lat.'' Stephanus = wreath, decorative wreath worn on the head ...

took over driving duties for the season, while

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

announced their full sponsorship of the squad. The two cars dominated the 2007 season, winning nine of the ten events on the schedule and wrapping up another championship. For 2008, AF Corse expanded to a three car team in the GT2 class. Vilander and Bruni are retained in the lead car, while Biagi returns to the squad to be joined by Christian Montanari in the second entry. The third car will be run under the Advanced Engineering name, with

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

Matías Russo Matías Russo (born September 4, 1985) is an Argentine racing driver. He has run in different series, with major success in FIA GT Championship. Russo won the GT2 class of the 2008 FIA GT San Luis 2 Hours with team-mate Luís Pérez Companc on ...

and

Luís Pérez Companc Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

In 2010, the FIA GT Championship was dissolved and two new championships were born from it. The GT1 class of the former series became the

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand to ...

while the GT2 class formed the

FIA GT2 European Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

. The GT2 series was suspended due to lack of entries. As a result, the AF Corse team joined the Le Mans Series. For the 2010 season, the team fielded three Ferrari F430 GT2s for the series' GT2 class. Drivers

and

campaigned the #94 Ferrari with Toni Vilander and former Grand Prix drivers Jean Alesi and

Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official ''Nazionale Piloti'' association football team (composed of the racing drivers). He has d ...

in the #95.

ALMS Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...

regulars, with the Risi Competizione team, Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni drove the Ferrari #96. In 2011 AF Corse entered the

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010.

with brand new Ferrari 458 Italia GT2s as well as the FIA GT3 European Championship with Ferrari 458 Italia GT3s. AF Corse won the ILMC in the GTE-Pro category, including the final round at Petit Le Mans. It also won the FIA GT3 driver's championship with

Francisco Catellaci Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de Asís was known as '' ...

and

Federico Leo Federico Leo (born August 27, 1988, in Varese) is an Italian racing driver. Career Formula Junior Leo began his single–seater career in late 2005 in the Italian Formula Junior 1600 Winter series, scoring nine points to finish 13th in the st ...

. The team also joined the International GT Open for the 2010 season in the Super GT class, which is largely reminiscent of the GT2 rules in the Le Mans Series. The team fields two Ferrari GT2 cars for drivers

Jack Gerber Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, i ...

& Rui Águas in the #6 car and Pierre Kaffer and

Álvaro Barba Álvaro Barba López (born 17 February 1984 in Seville) is a Spanish racing driver and brother to fellow racer Marco Barba. Career Formula Junior and Spanish Formula Three Barba began his single seater career in 2002 driving in the Spanish For ...

in the #8 Ferrari. AF Corse will also field a third Ferrari (#7) for the

AT Racing AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

team with drivers

Alexander Talkanitsa Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants li ...

and his son

Alexander Talkanitsa Jr Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. For 2012, AF Corse competed in a variety of sports car championships throughout Europe and globally, including the

and

GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand tou ...

with Ferrari F458 Italia GT2s and Ferrari F458 Italia GT3s, including a co-branded for GTE-Am class car with

, AF Waltrip. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, amateur driver

Piergiuseppe Perazzini Piergiuseppe is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piergiuseppe Maritato (born 1989), Italian footballer *Piergiuseppe Vacchelli Piergiuseppe Vacchelli (born 4 February 1937) is the current Adjunct Secretary Eme ...

collided with the No. 8 Toyota driven by overall-contender Anthony Davidson, sending the Toyota airborne at the Mulsanne Corner. Perazzini's Ferrari also flipped and landed on its roof after hitting the tyre barrier. Davidson suffered two broken vertebrae in the crash but was able to pull himself from the car in the immediate aftermath of the accident - though of course he was forced to abandon the race. The AF Corse #51 car driven by Gianmaria Bruni,

and Toni Vilander won the GTE Pro race beating Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

AF Corse-Waltrip

AF Corse-Waltrip, also known as AF Waltrip, is a former professional sportscar team. The company was a 50–50 partnership between

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

co-owners

Michael Waltrip Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, and published author. He competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience. He is the younger brother o ...

and Rob Kauffman. In 2011 Michael Waltrip Racing entered into a technical alliance with AF Corse to provide them sportscars to race in the

and Tudor United SportsCar Championship (formerly Rolex Sports Car Series). AF Course-Waltrip shut down their sportscar team in 2013 to concentrate on

Racing Results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

There was no drivers championship that year, the result indicates team rank in the LMGTE Am Trophy.

Rolex Sports Car Series Points

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:AF Corse Italian auto racing teams 1995 establishments in Italy Auto racing teams established in 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans teams FIA GT Championship teams FIA GT1 World Championship teams European Le Mans Series teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams International GT Open teams Blancpain Endurance Series teams British GT Championship teams World Series Formula V8 3.5 teams WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams Ferrari in motorsport