In 1995, Amato Ferrari (no relation to the family of Enzo Ferrari and his Ferrari 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 (in English, "AF Racing"), named for his initials. The team turned to sports car racing, and within a year was contracted by Maserati. 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.[citation needed]
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. Drivers Fabrizio de Simone, Andrea Bertolini, Mika Salo, and Johnny Herbert were all assigned to the team, eventually earning AF Corse two victories before the season ended.[2] 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.[citation needed]
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, 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.[3] The company retained their connection to Maserati however, entering a trio of cars in the new FIA GT3 European Championship.[citation needed]
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 took over driving duties for the season, while Motorola 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.[1]
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 ArgentinianMatías Russo and Luís Pérez Companc.[citation needed]
For 2012, AF Corse competed in a variety of sports car championships throughout Europe and globally, including the FIA World Endurance Championship and GT1 World Championship with Ferrari F458 Italia GT2s and Ferrari F458 Italia GT3s, including a co-branded for GTE-Am class car with Michael Waltrip Racing, AF Waltrip. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, amateur driver Piergiuseppe Perazzini 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.[4] The AF Corse #51 car driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander won the GTE Pro race beating Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin.
In 2023, AF Corse and Scuderia Ferrari announced a partnership to field the marque's new 499P hypercar in that year's edition of the FIA World Endurance Championship. After a successful season that year, including winning at Le Mans in the centenary edition – and Ferrari's first Le Mans in the top class in 50 years – the team decided to field a yellow-coloured privateer entry, and drafted in Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye to pilot the #83 machine. They led much of the 2024 edition of Le Mans, before retiring with an engine failure.[5]
The collaboration with the Ferrari Hypercar team has largely been a success, at Le Mans in particular, with the two factory cars (#51 and #50) winning the marquee event in 2023 and 2024 respectively. These back-to-back triumphs meant that all six of their works drivers, unchanged across the two years, have won the race: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in car #50, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in car #51.[citation needed]
AF Corse-Waltrip, also known as AF-Waltrip, is a former professional sportscar team. The company was a 50–50 partnership between Michael Waltrip RacingNASCAR co-owners Michael Waltrip and Rob Kauffman. In 2011, Michael Waltrip Racing entered into a technical alliance with AF Corse to provide them sportscars to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Rolex Sports Car Series. AF Corse-Waltrip shut down their sportscar team in 2013 to concentrate on NASCAR.
↑ James Calado was driving the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari when he was injured in a crash in the second qualifying session. Calado was not cleared to participate in the race and was replaced by Pierre Kaffer.[6]
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