Ferrari puts two 499P Hypercars into the Asian Le Mans Series
A class written off in September now has two Ferraris and three factory drivers
Ferrari confirmed on 29 September that two 499Ps will contest the full 2026-27 Asian Le Mans Series, one run by AF Corse and one by Cetilar Racing with AF Corse as technical partner. They are the first confirmed entries in the series' new Hypercar class, which opens at Paul Ricard on 14 November. A fortnight ago that class had so few entries that its launch was in doubt.
AF Corse and Cetilar Racing enter the No. 90 and No. 47 Ferrari 499Ps
The No. 47 Cetilar car pairs team owner Roberto Lacorte with his son Nicola and Ferrari factory driver Antonio Fuoco. The No. 90 AF Corse car puts Argentine Luís Pérez Companc alongside factory drivers Nicklas Nielsen and Yifei Ye. Cetilar finished second overall in last season's series, and Lacorte calls it the first private team to race the 499P. The timing matters to him: Cetilar made its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in June 2017, ten years before this season ends. Its new livery follows at the end of October.
All three Ferrari factory drivers in the class have won Le Mans
Fuoco and Nielsen won Le Mans together in a 499P in 2024, and Ye won it in 2025 as the first Chinese driver to do so. Nielsen and Ye both signed multi-year extensions with Ferrari this month. Ferrari won Le Mans three years running from 2023 before Toyota beat it in June. The rules demand at least one FIA Bronze-rated driver per car, which is why Pérez Companc sits in the No. 90. He and Nielsen already shared an LMP2 car in the American IMSA championship in 2024 and 2025, so the pairing is not new.
Six four-hour races at Paul Ricard, Jerez and Portimão make 24 hours of racing
The whole season now runs in Europe, after conflict in the Middle East pushed the organisers out of the Gulf. It has three rounds of two four-hour races each: Paul Ricard on 14 and 15 November, Jerez on 16 and 17 January and Portimão on 20 and 21 February. Add them up and the winter holds exactly 24 hours of racing, one Le Mans spread over four months. Cold track temperatures at all three circuits were one reason teams doubted the class would work at all.
Two Porsche 963s and a Perrodo Ferrari dropped out after the move to Europe
The Ferraris arrive after others left. Algarve Pro Racing boss Stewart Cox abandoned plans for two Porsche 963s because of the European calendar, and François Perrodo, who had talked to Ferrari about a car, pulled out for the same reason. Organisers extended the entry deadline by a week to find more cars. In June the ACO had spoken of three to six Hypercars, and in September some LMP2 teams wanted the class dropped altogether. A Peugeot 9X8 from BBM Sport and an Isotta Fraschini have been linked, but neither is confirmed.
The Asian Hypercar champion gets no invitation to Le Mans in 2027
The class is open to privateers only, and its champion receives no automatic entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, unlike the LMP2 and GT winners. The reason is the Bronze rule: Bronze-rated drivers are not allowed in the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship, so a winning crew could not take its prize. AO Racing team principal Gunnar Jeannette said the class makes zero sense without that invitation, which explains why independent entries have been so scarce.
AutoNext Take
Ferrari has done the Asian Le Mans Series a real favour, and it has done itself one too. Without these two cars, the Hypercar class would open in November with no confirmed entries at all. With them, it has a prototype that won Le Mans three years in a row and three factory drivers who each won one of them. Ferrari also gets 24 hours of competitive running with the 499P in the middle of the off-season, the one thing a winter test programme cannot fake.
The class will still be small at Paul Ricard, and we do not expect more than four Hypercars on the grid on 14 November. It will not stay that small if the ACO fixes the Le Mans invitation. A Ferrari-backed class that runs cleanly all winter is the strongest argument Bronze drivers could have for a place at Le Mans, and the ACO should settle that question before entries open for 2027-28.
