AF confirmed on Friday that the pair will join the already-announced Robert Kubica in the car it will field alongside the two full-factory 499Ps this year.
The announcement follows the news in December that Ye had joined Ferrari after leaving Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, where he was a so-called selected driver, and subsequent speculation that he and Formula 1 reserve driver Shwartzman would race the extra AF entry in the WEC’s Hypercar class.
Shwartzman is moving into the prototype ranks after racing a factory-backed Ferrari 296 GT3 for AF in last year’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and an outing in one of the regular 499Ps at the official WEC rookie test in Bahrain in November.
The 24-year-old stated that he and his team-mates were “feeling confident and ambitious” about their 2024 WEC campaign.
“I am confident that the season will be positive and I am really motivated to get good results, with the ambition to win the world title,” he said.
“There is a race that I am especially looking forward to, however, and that is the Le Mans 24 Hours: it is a race that has always been in my dreams and I will do everything possible to try to win.”
Photo by: Ferrari
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Ye will remain in the Hypercar class after racing the Jota team’s Porsche 963 LMDh in ’23.
The Chinese driver described the chance to race the 499P for AF as “truly a privilege.”
“AF Corse has achieved enormous success across different championships in endurance racing and I’m super-excited to start my role of official Ferrari driver with them in the WEC and at Le Mans.
“Last year the competition was already extremely stiff and this year, with 19 hypercars, it will be even more fierce but, looking at the performance of the team in 2023, I have no doubt that we will be competitive.
“Together with my two new team-mates, we have experience, speed and youth. “I can’t wait to get my first taste of the 499P and start the preparation for the new season that is coming very quickly.”
Ye is renewing a partnership with Kubica, with whom he won the 2021 European Le Mans Series at the wheel of a WRT-run ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP2.
AF’s customer entry will compete for points in the FIA Endurance Trophy for Hypercar Teams rather than the WEC manufacturers’ classification in which the factories are only allowed to field a maximum of two cars.
The announcement from Shwartzman means that both Ferrari F1 reserves will be racing in the WEC in 2024: Antonio Giovinazziwho also has a test and reserve role, will again race in one of the factory 499Ps.
