Imola 2 Hour Report: Giovinazzi leads for Ferrari; Manthey PureRxcing Porsche heads LMGT3
Below are the headlines after the first two hours of racing the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Imola.
Hypercar – Leader: No.51 Ferrari AF Corse
Pole-sitting No.50 Ferrari AF Corse started by Nicklas Nielsen led a close opening hour at Imola as Ferrari ran 1-2-3 in the opening stages
The Dane headed the No.51 Ferrari 499P driven by Antonio Giovinazzi who got ahead of Robert Kubica in the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari in the opening corners
Behind the Prancing Horses came a tight battle between the No.6 Porsche Penske 963 (Laurens Vanthoor), No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar (Mike Conway) and the No.5 Porsche Penske 963 (Frederic Makowiecki).
But complexion of the order changes at the first scheduled stops with Porsche Penske and Toyota Gazoo Racing electing for an aggressive slightly shorter fuelled strategy to get track position. They run second and third with Conway close on tail of Vanthoor through the second hour
The No.51 Ferrari AF Corse emerges in the lead after a quicker pit stop to lead the shorting fuelling pair with Robert Kubica vaulting the early leading No.50 Ferrari AF Corse as they run fourth and sixth with the No.5 Porsche Penske 963 between them
But Nielsen forges passed Makowiecki’s Porsche with a well-judged move in to Tamburello to grab fourth position before the second scheduled pit stop.
In sixth place is the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar driven by Sebastien Buemi who spends most of race harassing the No.5 Porsche Penske of Makowiecki
The first of the Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963s sits seventh as Will Stevens heads Phil Hanson in the No.38 car
The No.20 BMW M Team WRT Hypercar is ninth ahead of the No.93 Peugeot TotalEnergies entry driven by Nico Muller. The Swiss lost some time in the opening laps after briefly slowing with a suspected gearbox problem.
There was drama at the start of the race on the run down to Tamburello as a multi-car accident impacted several cars, among them the two Alpine Endurance Team cars (No.35 Charles Milesi) and No.36 (Matthieu Vaxiviere), the No.15 BMW M Team WRT Hypercar (Marco Witmann) and the No.94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercar (Paul di Resta)
All cars are severely delayed, most of all the No.15 BMW which loses 32 laps after spending 65-minutes in the pits for repairs
Vaxiviere was adjudged to have caused the accident and received a 60-second stop/go penalty for the melee.
Prancing Horses lead the way as WEC 6 Hours of Imola Explodes in to Action!#WEC #6HImola #Rolex pic.twitter.com/p0PtWB8h1H
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) April 21, 2024
LMGT3 – Leader: Joel Sturm, No.92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche
Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 LMGT3 started by pole winner Aliaksandr Malykhin dominates early stages of the race as he converts top spot on the grid to a clear lead in first two stints
Malykhin leads the No.46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 driven by Ahmed Al Harthy. Teammate Joel Strum takes over from Malykhin just before third hour and re-takes lead which is briefly held by Francois Heriau in No.55 VISTA Ferrari
Local legend Valentino Rossi takes over from Al Harthy and runs third after Heriau leaps the BMW in the pits after not taking tyres
Behind this pair a fierce battle rages between the No.55 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 car started by Francois Heriau. The French driver puts a smart move on the Darren Leung driven No.31 Team WRT BMW to claim third place
Heart of Racing Aston Martin sits fifth for much of race as Ian James holds off Qatar pole sitter Tom van Rompuy in No.81 TF Sport Corvette. But the American manages to overtake Leung and snatch fourth just before the arrival of the third hour
But James receives a drive-through penalty though for a full course yellow infraction which was deployed to retrieve the No.54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari from the Tamburello gravel in the opening exchanges
Sarah Bovy in Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 suffers frustrating issue with electrics of car after early race contact via the No91 Manthey EMA Porsche of Yasser Shahin. He receives a 60-second stop/go penalty for the lap one collision.
The Iron Dames retire the Lamborghini Huracan just before the third hour with damage inflicted in the incident
Click HERE for positions after 2 Hours
