Shwartzman got to sample Ferrari’s Le Mans 24 Hours-winning LMH car at the official WEC rookie test in Bahrain last Sunday, just over a month after scoring his first victory in the GT World Challenge Europe series in Barcelona.
Completing 30 laps at the wheel of the #51 Ferrari 499P, the 24-year-old posted a best time of 1m48.559s to end the day at the top of the timesheets, beating Jota Porsche’s full-timer Will Stevens by 0.066s.
The Russian-Israeli has tested a wide variety of cars since exiting Formula 2 at the end of the 2021 season, including IndyCar, Formula 1 and Formula E, but this marked his first outing in a prototype sportscar.
Speaking after the test, Shwartzman said his pace in the Ferrari LMH was proof that he can move up the Hypercar category in 2024, and feels he won’t gain anything by continuing in GTWCE for another year.
“I'm open for everything, so I really hope that after this test there is going to be an opportunity to try the Hypercar and just race properly, [and] feel the whole experience of endurance racing,” he said.
“In the test I've shown enough that I'm fully ready for that car and I have zero doubt about it.
Source: Autosport