Enzo Potolicchio is seeing stars after his 8Star Motorsport with Ferrari team claimed the WEC LM GTE Am World Championship at Bahrain.
Alongside Rui Aguas and Davide Rigon, the Venezuelan claimed second place behind Young Driver AMR but that was enough to claim the crown.
The team had only come into fruition this time last year following Potolicchio’s split from Peter Barron’s Starworks team and the launching of a plan which saw the South American launch a multi faceted programme across the world.
The jewel in the crown of this campaign was the Ferrari 458 GTC machine racing in the WECs Am class, which saw Enzo pick up his second championship in a year following LMP2 success last year. It also marks only the second time an American squad has won an FIA World Championship in the modern era.
Potolocchio said: “We had some great runs along the way but also some bad luck, including a tire puncture at Le Mans, that set us back. We’re happy with the teams championship and definitely had a chance to win the drivers championship as well. Honestly, it was our first season here in the WEC and we can be proud of what we accomplished.
“The race today was a tough one for us, we had a lot of oversteer in the car. We were expecting the Aston Martin to have more tire degradation than they actually had. We have to congratulate them for winning the race. They had three very good drivers. But winning Shanghai and finishing second here, we definitely showed what we were made of and had an incredible crew that got the job done.”
The 8Star squad can’t rest however, as they prepare their charges for the Roar Before the 24 at Daytona in the first week of January.
