Le Mans 24 Hours winner James Calado has signed a multi-year contract extension with Ferrari starting from next season’s World Endurance Championship.
The 36-year-old’s deal was announced on Friday ahead of next week’s WEC 2025 finale in Bahrain, where Calado will arrive leading the standings with Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
It will further extend a stay at Ferrari that began in 2014 for Calado and has yielded three GTE Pro titles in the WEC, as well as overall victory in the centenary edition of Le Mans in 2023 with the 499P Le Mans Hypercar.
This comes after speculation that the Briton could leave the Prancing Horse to join one of the new brands coming into the WEC over the next two years.
The announcement of Calado’s deal suggests Ferrari will head into its 2026 Hypercar campaign in the WEC with an unchanged, or largely unchanged, driver line-up across the two factory 499Ps.
Five of the six drivers of the AF Corse-run factory Hypercar squad are known to have contracts covering next year. Giovinazzi and Nicklas Nielsen signed new deals in July and September respectively.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: FIAWEC — DPPI
Nielsen’s team-mates Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina agreed new multi-year extensions to their time at Ferrari at the end of 2024. That leaves Ferrari stalwart Pier Guidi, the oldest of its Hypercar squad at 41: his last contract extension was announced in January 2024 for an undisclosed period.
Ferrari sportscar boss Antonello Coletta revealed at Le Mans in June that the stability of a driver roster that has remained unchanged since the 499P programme began in 2023 had been key to its success.
“There is no intention to change anybody, so I hope that we can keep the same team for the next seasons,” he said. “For us, stability of drivers is something that is truly fundamental — it’s one of the pillars on which we carry out our sporting activity.”
Ferrari traditionally announces contract renewals without being specific on the driver’s programme for the following year, which was the case in the Calado statement.
“I’m extremely happy to remain in the Ferrari family as an official driver,” said Calado. “I’ve achieved many successes with the Prancing Horse in recent years, and I’m convinced that together we can achieve great things in the future.
“There’s been a lot of speculation lately about what I would do next: in reality, my only desire was to continue racing for Ferrari.”
Coletta added: “We’re happy to be able to count on a quick and reliable driver like James, who has made a sporting name for himself within the Ferrari family.”
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