The Italian driver made the remarks despite setting the pace in last Sunday’s official test day at the wheel of the #51 499P Le Mans Hypercar he shares with Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado for the World Endurance Championship blue riband.
Giovinazzi set a best time of 3m29.504s in the afternoon session, topping the times by a tenth of a second from Porsche driver Laurens Vanthoor, while Toyota’s best car was three tenths off the pace in third in the hands of Kamui Kobayashi.
However, speaking ahead of Wednesday’s opening practice session, Giovinazzi said he is convinced that Toyota remains a step ahead of the Hypercar competition.
“Testing is just testing,” said the ex-Formula 1 racer when asked by Autosport where he feels Ferrari stands relative to its rivals. “I think Toyota is still in front of us, and maybe Porsche and Cadillac are closer to us.
“We are there ready to fight, and the chance is there. It’s 24 hours, anything can happen, but Toyota is still in front.
“It’s about experience. They have a lot more experience than us, especially at Le Mans. I think we have a fast car - we showed that in qualifying in the first three races [of the WEC season]. But you cannot buy experience.
“We are a young team, we don’t have much experience of this race in a Hypercar. Toyota has that, they know how to win and to be fast. I think for us it’s more about putting pressure on Toyota and maybe something can happen.”
The minimum weight of the Ferrari 499P has been raised by 24kg for Le Mans under Balance of Performance, compared to a 37kg increase for the Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Source: Autosport