WEC | Imola, Free Practice 3: Ferrari doesn’t stop and dreams of pole |FP – Results

By Carlo Platella
Free practice for the 6 hours of Imola ended in the name of Ferrari, which won the best session time three times out of three. Antonio Fuoco was the fastest in the Imola morning, confirming what he had already achieved on Friday. The 499Ps look like the cars to beat in qualifying, where a very close battle is expected. To the usual Toyota and Porsche, never far from the top, BMW is now added, the big surprise of the day.

Three Ferraris in the top 6

Slightly slower track in Imola compared to Friday, which does not allow teams and drivers to repeat the times printed in the first two sessions. However, Antonio Fuoco’s 1’31”238” was enough to lift the Ferrari #50 into first position, ahead of a surprising Dries Vanthoor in the BMW #15 by just 34 thousandths. That of the Bavarian manufacturer does not seem to be a flash in the pan, considering how the sister car #20 is third with René Rast, just 3 tenths from Fuoco.

The #83 AF Corse Ferrari confirms itself as a serious contender for pole position. Robert Shwartzman was fourth at the end of the session, trailing by just 339 thousandths from the virtual pole position. The other official Red, the #51, still appears to be the most in difficulty of the 499P trio, stopping in sixth place. In front of her is the first of the Porsches, the Penske #5, which with Campbell is 4 tenths behind Antonio Fuoco. The first of the Toyotas is not far away either. Brendon Hartley is seventh in the #8, stopping the clock at 1’31”838”’.

It rarely happens that so much attention is paid to absolute times in a discipline where victory often depends on race pace. The paddock, however, agrees on the difficulties in overtaking that there will be on Sunday, which can already be understood from the free practice simulations, where some cars remained queued up for a long time without finding an opening. Qualifying will be potentially decisive, announcing a very close fight already to gain access to the Hyperpole. In fact, Vandoorne, twelfth in the Peugeot #93, is only 1 second behind the Ferrari #50.

LMGT3

After the Corvettes went solo on Friday, it was Aston Martin that took the lead in the last free practice session. Marco Sorensen is the fastest in the #777 of D’Station Racing, with a time of 1’42”474”, trailing Daniel Mancinelli in the sister car #27 by a good half a second. He was third in BMW #31, while #46 was tenth with Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin and Ahmad al Harthy. The Ferraris, on the other hand, are sixth and thirteenth, with the #54 and #55 respectively. Qualifying in Imola will start at 2.45pm.