Emotions and lots of entertainment at the 6 Hours of Imola, second round of the 2024 FIA WEC World Endurance Championship. The Italian stage of the event did not disappoint expectations in the race and in the stands. In the Hypercars, the Toyota Gazoo Racing of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries wins, the first of the two Ferraris only fourth despite an excellent pace in the first part of the race. In LMGT3 Valentino Rossi and the BMW M Team WRT are smiling, the champion from Tavullia closes his home race with an excellent second place.
Hypercars
There Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries won the 6 Hours of Imola. Determinant the rain in the last two hours of the race which upset all the teams’ strategies and consequently the leading positions. Taking advantage of this were the reigning world champions who preceded the Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar number 6 of Estre, Lotterer and Vanthoor. Third was the other Porsche number 5 of Campbell, Christensen and Makowiecki.
The first of the two Ferraris was off the podium and finished fourth, while the other Toyota number 8 was fifth. The BMW M Team WRT achieved its best WEC placing with an excellent sixth place while the second official Ferrari number 51 finished seventh. The Ferrari Giallo Modena of AF Corse number 83 was eighth while the new Peugeot 9X8 finished in ninth position overall, taking points in the team’s first race with the addition of a rear wing. Cadillac closes the top ten, also taking the first two points in the Manufacturers’ standings. In the latter, the Germans Porsche excel ahead of Toyota and Ferrari.
The Ferraris
The two official Hypercars of the Ferrari – AF Corse team were the undisputed protagonists in the first half of the race making the audience in the stands dream for a few hours. Specifically, the 499P numbers 50 and 51 were first and second until the stroke of the fourth hour. Then the arrival of the rain interrupted the dominance, favoring Toyota and Porsche who had chosen to fit rain tires a few laps early.
After obtaining the first positions in the Hyperpole, Ferrari greets Imola in fourth and seventh position with Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in car number 50 and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, in the sister car number 51, respectively. Antonio Fuoco was the author of the best lap time recorded in the race on the 203rd pass in 1:31.794.
The eighth place obtained by the 499P number 83 of AF Corse driven by Kubica, Shwartzman and Yifei, however, allowed the Piacenza team to achieve its first success of the season in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams, a title reserved for those who obtained the highest number of points after considering all the results obtained in each race, and second place in the ranking behind Hertz Team Jota.
LMGT3
The Team WRT BMW M4 of Augusto Farfus, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael the LMGT3 wins, also obtaining the first historic category victory for the Bavarian brand in the WEC. Second is sister number 46 driven by Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi and Ahmed Al Harthy. Closing the podium is Manthey PureRxcing by Joel Sturm, Aliaksandr Malykhin and Klaus Bachler. The number 5 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 of Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera achieved its best result of the season with fourth place while bad luck once again haunts the magenta Lamborghini of the Iron Dames which was forced to retire after 33 laps.
Valentino Rossi
Smiles Vale author of an excellent performance also on the Imola track. A pre-race all for him caught the attention of many who came for the Italian premiere in the WEC. After having come close to the podium in the previous race in Qatar, now the long-awaited recognition right in front of the home crowd. A second place obtained with the precious contribution of the teammates in the race and consolidated in the most delicate moment of the race, that of the arrival and the persistence of the rain where the laps completed by the teammates with slick tires on the damp track were decisive.
“I am very happy with the double for Team WRT, for BMW M Motorsport and for my first podium in FIA WEC. We already had a very strong car on Saturday in qualifying and Ahmad achieved an excellent third place on the starting grid. During the race, we then decided to stay out on the slicks. Augusto was a little faster than Maxime at the start and took the lead. However, I am very satisfied with the result” Rossi’s satisfied comment at the end of the race.
WEC Entertainment
The second round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship was a record-breaker 73,600 spectators in the stands. The premiere in Imola was therefore good, accompanied by a red tide that enthusiastically attended the Italian event over the three days of the event. Imola was crowded until the first hours of the gates opening and did not disappoint expectations. The Italian public itself did not fail to show its warmth and passion to all the protagonists in the race.
The World Cup will now return to the spotlight next time May 11th with the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchampsthird round of the official 2024 season.
Tags: Toyota mocks Ferrari Valentino Rossi podium GT3
