The fastest engineer in the world wins in a Ferrari. Calculations, emotions and foot down, Alessandro Pier Guidi is living proof that sport and study can coexist, even at very high levels. He has just returned from the triumph of Le Mans – in a car alongside British driver James Calado and French driver Come Ledogar he won the 24 Hours in the GTE Pro class for the second time, after the 24 Hours of Spa), bringing the Maranello team where it belongs. On top of the podium.
He who started from Sarezzano, a village of just over a thousand inhabitants in the province of Alessandria, drew red cars as a child: “As in 2019, this time too I was behind the wheel in the final lap. Unforgettable moments on the way back: crowds on the track, marshals waving flags. It takes a long time to get back to the pits, it’s 13 kilometers of pure enjoyment: the images of 24 hours run through your head, review everything you’ve faced, I consider myself very lucky to have lived experiences like this”. But good luck does not matter, Pier Guidi has built his career with humility and sacrifices. He used to race on karts as a child, “as a joke”. Like so many. Dreaming of being Ayrton: «I went to see him in Monza, what magic: Senna remains the best ever. For me he was a God, the news of his death shocked me for days, I learned about it while I was in a kart competition”. The veterinarian father (like his mother) assisted him as a mechanic: “I went as far as the single-seaters but I had no sponsors or family money to go on. The world of endurance races opened horizons to me that seemed closed.”
The leap takes place when he entered the orbit of Af Corse, the Piacenza-based team that collaborates with Maranello for Gran Turismo races: “I had the opportunity to get involved, if you never get a chance you can’t prove whether you are worth it or not”. Alessandro is a tough guy like his own land, he chooses the university to “create a valid alternative”: “I was in a transition phase: I didn’t know if I would be able to become a professional driver. I liked mechanics, I enrolled at the Polytechnic in Alexandria: engineering knowledge helps in dialogue with technicians, facilitates understanding of the behavior of the car. They are not essential, but on certain occasions they have helped me a lot. But sometimes you have to think only as a driver, and not “steal” the job from others”.
The 24 Hours are won with experience, luck, nastiness – they say that Pier Guidi is very ferocious in duels, anyone who listens to his team radio messages knows it well – but the secret is above all to find the right companions. Because it is not Formula 1, in endurance you have to “lend” the car: “The human relationship is important, but the driving style is even more important: by sharing the cockpit you have to find someone similar to you. Simplify setup changes, with very different drivers it would be much more complicated. I have been running for years with James (Calado ed), we have the same feeling and we are also great friends. And then the group counts, it is a decisive mental step to take when you go from single-seaters to endurance races: there you are alone and you think about beating your teammate first and then your opponents. Here is the opposite, you have to help your teammates earn a tenth, perhaps suggesting a trajectory. It’s a bit of a marathon and a bit of a relay: even if they have now become one-day sprint races, we almost always push to the maximum “.
Ferrari President John Elkann was also present in France – “He stayed with us throughout the race, he followed it from the pits and inquired: he put positive pressure on us” -, Ferrari in 2023 will return to fight for the overall victory at Le Mans (the last dates back to 1965 with Jochen Rindt, Masten Gregory and Ed Hugus) participating in the premier class of the Hypercars. Pier Guidi is a natural candidate, the (difficult) suggestion would be sharing the cockpit with Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc as well as with the faithful Calado: “It would be a great idea, you have to convince the boss (Antonello Coletta, Ferrari GT racing manager ed). It is one of my goals to win the overall, with a crew I would go up in the morning “. From time to time, Alessandro Pier Guidi has also discovered basketball for a while. Thanks to the performance of Tortona, newly promoted to Serie A: “When such a small town, where you have all your friends, does such a feat, you can’t help but follow it. Until a few years ago I didn’t even know all the rules. Now, on the other hand, I am passionate about it, it is beautiful.” – he concluded.
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