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Ferrari return to Le Mans looking more likely?

Statements made by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo may indicate that the Italian brand could return to a form of racing it's been absent from for 40 years - prototype racing. That's right, LMP1 could see a factory Ferrari team for the first time since 1973, if a report from ESPN F1 is to be believed.
"We have won with the 458 GTE, but I also quite like the idea of racing at Le Mans in the highest category: who knows, maybe one day we can return and win, say thanks and come home," Montezemolo said. "Maybe we should give it some consideration..."
These seemingly idle, off-hand comments might not hold much water, were rumors about Ferrari's return to prototype racing not swirling as recently as August. There's also the fact that the upcoming, 1.6-liter, turbocharged V6 being used for Formula One complies with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's own LMP1 regulations, according to ESPN. Finally, Ferrari returning to Le Mans might also explain this video of a camouflaged Ferrari LaFerrari testing a new turbocharged engine, which we showed you a few weeks back. There's a fair chance that what we're actually seeing in that video are the early stages of a new Ferrari prototype testing.

Race Recap: 2013 Italian Grand Prix is mistakes, gremlins and metronomes [spoilers]

The low-downforce, 5.793-kilometer circuit in Monza, Italy is known as the Temple of Speed, but only a few of the qualifying performances would have clued you into it. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing chassis' lined up first and second, and it didn't seem like Vettel had to work too hard to do so. Nico Hülkenberg truly lived up to his nickname, The Hulk, and put his Sauber third on the grid, a massive drive and turn-of-speed that even he didn't expect, especially with his teammate Esteban Gutiérrez down in 13th.
The rest of the top ten was what you might expect. Shenanigans at Ferrari ended up with Felipe Massa out-qualifying Fernando Alonso for fourth and fifth, a situation that led to Alonso calling his team either "stupid" or "genius," depending on how you translate his Italian, his sarcasm and his honesty. They were followed by Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, the soon-to-be Infiniti Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso, the McLaren duo of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button and the second Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne.
Why wasn't Kimi Räikkönen at Lotus in that group? Because his car only had the pace to make 11th on the grid, so he said. And behind him, Lewis Hamilton - who "drove like an idiot," in his words - in the second Mercedes.

Ferrari F12 gunning for GT-R's Nurburgring lap time?

Ferrari may not play the Nürburgring lap time game to the extent that Porsche, Nissan and Radical do, but it has been known to go for some lap times of its own. And now an F12 Berlinetta has been spotted lapping the Nordschleife in an apparent record attempt.
The F12 reportedly had the track all to itself for about an hour and a half, suggesting one of two possibilities: either Ferrari is testing an updated version, or it's going for a lap record with the existing version. While it's impossible to tell what may be going on under the sheetmetal, the communications equipment taped to the roof appear to be the only outward modifications, and would seem to indicate the latter more than the former.
In between warm-up and cool-down laps, the F12 reportedly lapped the circuit in 7 minutes and 48 seconds - which wouldn't be anything spectacular in and of itself, but that lap apparently included 40 seconds of cool-down between T13 and Hatzenbach, suggesting a possible 7:08 lap time. That's the time which Nissan recently recorded in the GT-R Nismo, indicating that Ferrari could be going for Godzilla's top time as the fastest front-engined, street-legal car ever to lap the 'Ring, ahead of the Dodge Viper ACR, Lexus LFA with the Nürburgring Package and Corvette ZR1 (but behind Ferrari's own track-bound 599XX, which clocked a 6:58 lap time four years ago).