AF Corse unveils the #83 Ferrari 499P with which it will defend its victory at Le Mans

With the official presentation of the factory team in Modena just two days ago, AF Corse unveiled the Ferrari 499P number 83 in Maranello, with which Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2026. The crew returns fully intact to try to achieve what they came very close to last season: adding the drivers' title to a season that already included victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and second place in the drivers' championship, ahead of one of the two factory team prototypes.

The #83 closed 2025 with 117 points, finishing ahead of the #50 of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, which scored 98. Only the crew of the #51, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, surpassed the AF Corse car in the final standings with 133 points. That a private team finished between the two factory team cars in the drivers' championship sums up well the level that AF Corse maintained throughout a season in which Ferrari dominated the WEC from start to finish.

Photo By Ferrari

The team that won Le Mans without being the factory team

At La Sarthe last year, Kubica completed five consecutive stints in the final hours, an effort that proved decisive in keeping the chasing cars at bay and cemented his place among the most solid drivers in the Hypercar class in 2025. In 2026, the team returns with the same base prototype as the factory team, without additional jokers and with a car whose new livery keeps Giallo Modena as the predominant color, reversing the proportion compared to the red that characterizes the #50 and #51. The new geometries in the red details are the only visual change compared to the 2025 version.

Photo By Ferrari

Alone in the World Cup for Hypercar Teams

Porsche's departure from the championship took Proton Competition with it, the team that in 2025 was AF Corse's only rival in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams, the parallel category designed for customer teams not competing for the constructors' title. In 2026, AF Corse is left without a direct competitor in that classification and the drivers' championship becomes the only truly meaningful objective for Kubica, Hanson and Ye, a fight in which the 2025 numbers show they can challenge the factory team. The season kicks off on March 28 in Qatar, a circuit where the #83 opened 2025 with a second place in the inaugural race.