WEC Imola Prologue: Ferrari finishes 1-2-3 as Aston Martin suffers massive shunt

Ferrari dominated the official Prologue check for the 2026 World Endurance Championship at Imola, locking out the highest three spots within the Hypercar class.

Antonio Fuoco set a greatest time of 1m31.177s within the manufacturing unit #50 Ferrari 499P simply half-hour into the beginning of the afternoon session, beating Antonio Giovinazzi’s morning benchmark by 4 tenths of a second.

Robert Kubica went second-quickest within the satellite tv for pc #83 AF Corse entry, whereas Giovinazzi made it three 499Ps on the high of the order.

The three Ferraris had additionally led the best way within the morning session and had been in a position to consolidate their place on the entrance earlier than gentle rain hit Imola simply an hour after observe motion resumed within the afternoon. A second bout of rain rendered any enhancements unimaginable, even because the observe regularly started to dry out late within the day.

BMW emerged as Ferrari’s closest rival within the prologue, with Robin Frijns ending up half a second down in fourth within the #20 M Hybrid V8. Ferrari had been sitting a full second away from its rivals within the morning session earlier than the #20 BMW closed the hole to the entrance.

Alpine seemed aggressive on each side of the lunch break, with Jules Gounon and Charles Milesi ending up simply 4 thousandths of a second adrift in fifth and sixth respectively.

Solely six vehicles had been in a position to lap within the 1m31s bracket, with Loic Duval in one of the best of the Peugeot 9X8 LMHs falling a tenth wanting that mark in seventh place.

#20 BMW M Staff WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Rene Rast, Robin Frijns

Picture by: FIA WEC / DPPI

The #15 BMW accomplished simply 26 laps within the morning session because the manufacturing unit WRT staff carried out an engine change, however the crew was in a position to ship the automotive again out on observe within the afternoon, with Kevin Magnussen occurring to set the eight-fastest time of the day.

It was a low-key day for Toyota with its rebranded and heavily-revised TR010, with Sebastien Buemi main the cost for the Japanese producer within the #8 automotive and the sister #7 entry ending up eleventh. The 2 Toyota LMH prototypes had been separated by the #93 Peugeot.

Norman Nato put Cadillac fourth within the opening session of the day, however the two Jota-entered manufacturing unit vehicles completed exterior the highest 10 within the rain-hit afternoon session.

Newcomer Genesis propped up the timesheets within the prologue, with the 2 GMR-001s ending 2.5s off the tempo set by the main Ferrari.

The one-day Imola check was punctuated by three separate purple flags, with the primary and the largest interruption attributable to Marco Sorensen struggling a heavy crash within the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie. The V12-powered LMH sustained heavy injury within the incident and couldn’t be repaired through the day.

A second purple flag adopted within the afternoon resulting from what the FIA described because the “concern with {the electrical} community, whereas the session was once more interrupted when Jose Maria Lopez spun the #87 Lexus RC F GT3 at Acque Minerali.

A number of full-course yellows had been deployed through the day, together with for particles at Variante Alta and a stoppage for Sean Gelael within the #32 BMW M4 GT3.

Aston Martin leads in LMGT3
#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi

#27 Coronary heart of Racing Staff Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi

Picture by: Federico Basile / AG Picture

Whereas Aston Martin’s day was compromised by a crash for certainly one of its hypercars, the British producer loved rather more success within the LMGT3 class.

Mattia Drudi posted a time of 1m42.698s aboard the #27 Vantage GT3, edging out the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera by simply half a tenth. Rovera had accomplished an ideal morning for Ferrari throughout the 2 lessons, however finally needed to accept second spot behind Drudi’s Aston.

Thomas Fleming completed third-quickest within the #10 Storage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, adopted by the 2 TF Sport Corvettes of Charlie Eastwood and Jonny Edgar. Finn Gershitz’s morning lap of 1m42.913s within the #58 McLaren was ok for sixth place, whereas Parker Thompson ended up seventh within the #69 BMW.

The highest 10 at school was accomplished by the #61 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the #32 BMW and the #27 Ferrari.

WEC Imola Prologue – Full outcomes:

Pos
Drivers
Staff
Class
Finest Time
Hole
Prev Hole

1
A. Fuoco / M. Molina / N. Nielsen
Ferrari AF Corse
Hypercar
1:31.177
—
—

2
Y. Ye / R. Kubica / P. Hanson
AF Corse
Hypercar
1:31.303
+0.126
0.126

3
A. Pier Guidi / J. Calado / A. Giovinazzi
Ferrari AF Corse
Hypercar
1:31.375
+0.198
0.072

4
R. Frijns / R. Rast
BMW M Staff WRT
Hypercar
1:31.709
+0.532
0.334

5
F. Makowiecki / J. Gounon / V. Martins
Alpine Endurance Staff
Hypercar
1:31.872
+0.695
0.163

6
A. Félix da Costa / C. Milesi / F. Habsburg
Alpine Endurance Staff
Hypercar
1:31.876
+0.699
0.004

7
L. Duval / M. Jakobsen / T. Pourchaire
Peugeot TotalEnergies
Hypercar
1:32.106
+0.929
0.230

8
Ok. Magnussen / R. Marciello
BMW M Staff WRT
Hypercar
1:32.204
+1.027
0.098

9
S. Buemi / B. Hartley / R. Hirakawa
Toyota Racing
Hypercar
1:32.409
+1.232
0.205

10
P. Di Resta / S. Vandoorne / N. Cassidy
Peugeot TotalEnergies
Hypercar
1:32.468
+1.291
0.059

11
M. Conway / Ok. Kobayashi / N. De Vries
Toyota Racing
Hypercar
1:32.487
+1.310
0.019

12
H. Tincknell / T. Gamble
Aston Martin Thor Staff
Hypercar
1:32.593
+1.416
0.106

13
E. Bamber / S. Bourdais
Cadillac Hertz Staff Jota
Hypercar
1:32.613
+1.436
0.020

14
W. Stevens / N. Nato
Cadillac Hertz Staff Jota
Hypercar
1:32.888
+1.711
0.275

15
M. Jaminet / P. Chatin / D. Juncadella
Genesis Magma Racing
Hypercar
1:33.618
+2.441
0.730

16
A. Lotterer / L. Derani / M. Jaubert
Genesis Magma Racing
Hypercar
1:33.707
+2.530
0.089

17
A. Riberas / M. Sørensen
Aston Martin Thor Staff
Hypercar
1:33.710
+2.533
0.003

18
I. James / Z. Robichon / M. Drudi
Coronary heart of Racing Staff
LMGT3
1:42.698
+11.521
8.988

19
F. Hériaud / S. Mann / A. Rovera
Vista AF Corse
LMGT3
1:42.749
+11.572
0.051

20
A. Au / T. Fleming / M. Kirchhöfer
Storage 59
LMGT3
1:42.814
+11.637
0.065

21
P. Dempsey / S. Yoluç / C. Eastwood
Racing Staff Turkey TF
LMGT3
1:42.826
+11.649
0.012

22
B. McDonald / J. Edgar / N. Catsburg
TF Sport
LMGT3
1:42.876
+11.699
0.050

23
A. West / F. Gehrsitz / B. Goethe
Storage 59
LMGT3
1:42.913
+11.736
0.037

24
A. McIntosh / P. Thompson / D. Harper
Staff WRT
LMGT3
1:42.959
+11.782
0.046

25
M. Berry / R. Andrade / M. Martin
Iron Lynx
LMGT3
1:43.051
+11.874
0.092

26
D. Leung / S. Gelael / A. Farfus
Staff WRT
LMGT3
1:43.078
+11.901
0.027

27
T. Flohr / F. Castellacci / D. Rigon
Vista AF Corse
LMGT3
1:43.142
+11.965
0.064

28
G. Newell / Ok. Pauwels / J. Adam
Coronary heart of Racing Staff
LMGT3
1:43.224
+12.047
0.082

29
T. Van Rompuy / H. David / E. Masson
Akkodis ASP Staff
LMGT3
1:43.247
+12.070
0.023

30
J. Zelger / M. Cressoni / L. Hødenius
Iron Lynx
LMGT3
1:43.289
+12.112
0.042

31
Y. Shahin / R. Pera / R. Lietz
Manthey
LMGT3
1:43.312
+12.135
0.023

32
P. Umbrărescu / C. Schmid / J. López
Akkodis ASP Staff
LMGT3
1:43.465
+12.288
0.153

33
J. Cottingham / T. Boguslavskiy / A. Güven
Manthey DK Engineering
LMGT3
1:43.611
+12.434
0.146

34
E. Powell / B. Tuck / S. Priaulx
Proton Competitors
LMGT3
1:43.627
+12.450
0.016

35
S. Gattuso / G. Levorato / L. Sargeant
Proton Competitors
LMGT3
1:44.414
+13.237
0.787

Pictures from Imola Prologue

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen