The 499Ps fielded by the official Ferrari – AF Corse team and the number 83 car entered by the AF Corse team will tackle the undulating circuit near Austin, Texas. The six-hour race kicks off at 1 p.m. local time on Sunday 6 September.
Meanwhile, during the summer break, the championship announced a change to the venues for the final two world championship rounds. Barcelona and Monza will host the last two events of 2026, replacing Qatar and Bahrain. The two six-hour rounds will take place on 18 October and 8 November respectively.
The race. After the second-place finish at Interlagos for the number 51 crew of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, the team heads to the United States aiming to extend its run of strong results and secure valuable points in the World Championship standings.
The São Paulo result for the reigning World Drivers’ Champions gave the Maranello manufacturer its third podium of the season, after the number 51 crew’s second place at the opening round in Imola and the third-place finish at Spa-Francorchamps by their teammates Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in the number 50 Ferrari 499P.
The circuit. With its frequent elevation changes, the 5.513-kilometre circuit features 9 right-hand and 11 left-hand turns. It hosts a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship for the third consecutive year.
In the previous two seasons, Ferrari took two pole positions, with the number 51 crew in 2024 and the number 83 in 2025. The number 83, entered by AF Corse, also won the race in 2024, while Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen finished second in the number 50 in 2025. These results came in vastly different weather conditions, highlighting the car’s great adaptability to the American circuit. Two years ago, the race took place on a dry track in high temperatures, while 12 months ago more than two-thirds of the event was run in torrential rain.
A memorable precedent. On 1 September 2024, for the first time since the company was founded in 1947, Ferrari claimed World Championship victories in two different series on the same day. Scuderia Ferrari HP won the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc, and a few hours later came the 499P win already mentioned, taken by the number 83 crew of Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica and Robert Shwartzman. This was the Ferrari 499P’s third victory overall, following its victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 and 2024.
The situation. Ferrari sits third in the World Manufacturers’ Championship with 88 points, 44 points behind the leaders. In the World Drivers’ Championship standings, Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi lie fourth with 57 points, 18 points off the top. Ye, Hanson and Kubica are ninth with 31 points, while Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen are 11th with 29. The winners of the American round will receive 25 points.
The programme. Two 90-minute free practice sessions will take place on Friday 4 September, starting at 11.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. On Saturday 5 September, the third free practice session will run from 11 a.m. to noon, followed by Qualifying at 3.40 p.m. and Hyperpole at 4 p.m. The race will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday 6 September and finish six hours later. All times are local.
