Ferrari: Le Mans programme unlikely
Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo has played down the chances of the legendary manufacturer making a full-scale return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in the near future
Di Montezemolo attended this year's race as the official starter, and at the height of the row over Formula 1's future he had hinted that Le Mans could be an alternative should Ferrari decide to pull out of F1.
But with the world championship's future looking much brighter after this week's exit, di Montezemolo believes it will be impossible to devote sufficient attention to Le Mans alongside Ferrari's F1 efforts.
"Le Mans is unique, I have been really fascinated by Le Mans," said di Montezemolo in an interview with Ferrari's website. "Unfortunately to race at Le Mans you have to concentrate for many, many months to prepare, to test and develop a car for Le Mans, and I think this today is quite impossible to do at the same time as racing at the maximum level in F1."
He did concede that the classic endurance race held great appeal for Ferrari.
"Having said that, we will see because Le Mans is something fantastic, as Sebring, endurance races, night, day, two drivers, I love it and sooner or later we will want to go back with an official car," said di Montezemolo.
Ferrari has continued to be represented at Le Mans by works-blessed private cars, such as the Risi Ferrari 430 that won the GT2 class this year.
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