Among the tears that represent all the sacrifices made since the first day, Antonio Fuoco dedicates the victory together with the Ferrari of the 24h of Le Mans to his father, who is no longer with us. And on a day when the Ferrari 499 P is on all the screens, his is the most beautiful dedication
RImmobile Antonio Fuoco during the last minutes of the 24h of Le Mans, a race of which he is leader together with Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina. He doesn’t say anything but doesn’t take his eyes off the screen in front of him as he shakes his teammate’s hand. In the meantime, however, there is so much emotion to manage that he cries, in silence, like a child. Why for him, winning the 24h of Le Mans is not just the realization of his greatest dreambut also the closing of the small big circle of sacrifices made to maintain his career.
He was very small the first time he got into a kart: red tracksuit and Ferrari cap, which he dreamed of one day being able to drive. A Scuderia that then took him under its wing, raising him to give him the chance to represent it in the endurance world championship, where Antonio has proven to be one of the best of his generation. Next to him, in every step of his career, there has always been his father, Gabriele Fuoco, who was the first to dream of seeing his son touch the sky with a finger at the wheel of the red car. A dream that soon became reality, because Antonio Fuoco finally won the 24h of Le Mans in a scenario that proved his competitiveness even more.
Uan almost disappointing qualifying, carried out directly by the driver from Cariati, who at the moment of the most important flying lap he took a curb too aggressively, frustrating the rest of the lap. A second row obtained by the Italian was not enough to face the race lightly, also because anything can happen in Le Mans. And it all happened, with the 499 P number 50 succeeding taking the victory with one pit stop less and the car’s autonomy at zero once stopped at parc fermé. An epic undertaking, which Antonio Fuoco tearfully decided to dedicate entirely to his greatest support, his father Gabriele.
“The last ten minutes were what made me realize. Until there you think about everything and think about nothing. You know there could be a puncture, a small accident, you can’t stay calm. Then in the last two laps you put everything in hope, hoping that everything goes well” Antonio tells us after the race. “We were all fingers crossed inside the garage, with tears in our eyes but super concentrated. We knew it was our day and Nicklas’ final stint was fantastic”
PWe are asked if there was a particular thought in his head in those last ten minutes, as Nielsen pushed to get to the finish line and Molina supported him. “It’s difficult to understand what’s going through your head, especially when the car has already crossed the finish line. So many emotions and, above all, so many memories” says Antonio. And while he does it the tears slip from his eyes again, because he tells us that “it’s all for a person who is no longer here”. He who supported him, explained everything to him and then let him fly in search of his role in a world that seems so scary as a father, who now watches him from above celebrate on the most important podium in motorsport.
Antonio, who is difficult to see moved, always concentrated and ready only to put the gas down, this time lets himself go. Because after such an important and special race as he himself described, emotions are too important to leave them aside. The most beautiful dedication of this incredible story of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is therefore hiswhich tells of a bond with motorsport, his passion and his reality, which is worth even more than such an important result as the one on the La Sarthe circuit.
