Imola 4 Hour Report: drama at Imola as rain arrives!
Molina takes lead back for Ferrari; Manthey PureRxcing continues to lead in LMGT3.
Hypercar – Leader: Miguel Molina, No.50 Ferrari AF Corse
No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar snatches lead of the race after 3hrs 40minutes after dramatic period in which Kamui Kobayashi emerges as leader
Ferrari AF Corse had taken control of the WEC 6 Hours of Imola as the No.51 pulled gap to sister No.50 Ferrari 499P in mid-phase of the race
Antonio Giovinazzi hands over the cockpit to James Calado who has to fend off advances of Miguel Molina on exiting the pits. He does this successfully and is able to pull a healthy gap before a full course yellow comes halfway through the fourth hour
The two drivers thrilled the Tifosi with several laps of wheel-to-wheel action which almost saw Calado trip over the No.59 United Autosports McLaren at Tosa
Nyck de Vries took over from Mike Conway in No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing and made an audacious move for second place as he got the jump on Molina’s Ferrari 499P as track went green after full course yellow
More drama followed in fourth hour when Callum Ilott goes off at Rivazza 1 when he loses control of his Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 and beaches the car in the gravel. Virtual Safety Car is deployed
Rain arrived at Imola shortly after sending strategies in to a spin as teams re-calculate plans for remainder of race
Miguel Molina took Kamui Kobayashi at Tosa before the Toyota pitted for wet tyres while all three Ferraris stay out on slicks
At the four hour mark, Molina leads Calado by just under a second as intra-Ferrari fight re-engages. No.83 AF Corse makes it Ferrari 1-2-3 with Kobayashi in fourth on wet tyres ahead of No.6 Porsche Penske and No.8 Toyota
Carl Bennett had earlier caused third full course yellow of the race at the Variante Alta after crashing the Issota Fraschini Hypercar, while No.94 Peugeot 9X8 suffers puncture and damaged bodywork and falls back in to lower reaches of Hypercar field.
What a great spectacle.
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) April 21, 2024
Catch all the action live on https://t.co/B3OAfJ9by7#WEC #6HImola pic.twitter.com/sYCVKBXwc2
LMGT3 – Leader: Joel Sturm, No.92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche
Joel Sturm in the Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 LMGT3 extends lead to the No.46 Team WRT BMW M4 driven by Valentino Rossi for most of mi-race phase. MotoGP legend is replaced by Maxime Martin who starts chase to the Porsche
But safety car just before fifth hour arrives bunches up field and puts Sturm under major pressure from Martin
No.31 Team WRT BMW M4 of Augusto Farfus joins battle for the lead as BMW double up its attack on Porsche
No.27 Heart of Racing recovers from earlier drive-through penalty to place fourth in LMGT3 with Daniel Mancinelli at the wheel
The Aston Martin heads the No.55 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Simon Mann, who takes his second stint at the wheel
Mann just heads the No.95 United Autosports McLaren as Chilean ace Nicolas Pino rounds out the top six
Click HERE for positions after 4 Hours
