Toyota outgunned Ferrari on monitor and within the pits to assert victory within the World Endurance Championship’s Imola opener on Sunday.
Sébastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley clinched the highest spot within the upgraded #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid, granting the Japanese producer a win on its one hundredth WEC begin.
The pole-sitting #51 Ferrari 499P crewed by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi needed to accept second, whereas Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway accomplished the rostrum within the #7 Toyota.
The race boiled right down to a two-horse battle between the 2 producers, with the likes of Alpine, BMW and Peugeot unable to bother the frontrunners for almost all of the day.
Initially, Calado pulled away cleanly from pole place within the #51 Ferrari, with team-mate Molina profiting from delicate tyres to move Hartley’s Toyota for second.
Ferrari held a 1-2 for about an hour earlier than a sooner service from the Toyota crew allowed Hartley to regain the place he had misplaced to Molina.
Toyota then rolled the cube in direction of the tip of the second hour, bringing within the #8 for a driver change with out switching tyres.
This allowed Hirakawa, who took over from Hartley, to imagine the lead of the race, forward of the #51 Ferrari now pushed by Pier Guidi.
The technique performed into Toyota’s arms when Hypercar debutant Nick Cassidy beached the #93 Peugeot 9X8 on chilly tyres on his out lap, bringing out the VSC and granting the #8 TR010 Hybrid a free pitstop.
Each the lead Toyota and the chasing Ferrari got here into the pits below warning, however Hirakawa returned on monitor together with his lead intact – and now additionally on contemporary tyres.
Ferrari responded to Toyota’s techniques by bringing in Pier Guidi early through the subsequent pitstop cycle however didn’t undercut Hirakawa, who went on to increase his benefit to over 4 seconds.
Within the meantime, the #7 Toyota had labored its manner again to 3rd place by extending its tyre life, having dropped as little as seventh within the first stint.
One other cease with out altering the tyres allowed the #7 Toyota to rejoin forward of Pier Guidi and maintain again the Ferrari driver, serving to Hirakawa cement his place on the entrance within the penultimate hour.
The #51 Ferrari managed to retake second when the #7 Toyota took 4 new tyres at its last pitstop, however by this stage Buemi had constructed a lead of 10 seconds on the entrance of the sector.
With the rain failing to reach regardless of a looming menace within the last two hours, Buemi took the chequered flag with a profitable margin of 13s. The end result marked Toyota’s second consecutive victory within the WEC, following the #7 automobile’s win in November’s Bahrain finale, and the primary for the #8 crew since 2024.
The #51 Ferrari trio might make no inroads within the last stint and needed to accept second, whereas Kobayashi introduced residence the #7 Toyota in third place.
Regardless of a relentless menace of rain within the second half, the skies cleared within the last hour, permitting the race to run to the end with out drama.
Alpine placed on a robust efficiency within the Imola season opener, with Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Antonio Felix da Costa delivering a clear race to complete fourth within the upgraded #35 A424 LMDh.
René Rast held off a late assault from the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco to finish the highest 5 for the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 he shared with Robin Frijns. That was regardless of Rast choosing up a drive-through penalty halfway by the race for a VSC infringement.
Fuoco and his team-mates Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen have been in competition for the rostrum within the first half of the race, however a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement left the #50 Ferrari sixth on the end.
Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen completed seventh within the #15 BMW, rounding off a robust day for the last-remaining German producer within the WEC.
The #12 Cadillac V-Sequence.R briefly moved into the lead of the race within the third hour by not pitting below the Digital Security Automobile, however needed to cede place nearly instantly after the restart to serve a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag offense.
Whereas the #12 Cadillac completed outdoors the factors, Earl Bamber and Sébastien Buemi claimed eighth within the sister #38 entry, forward of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble in one of the best of the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMHs.
The highest 10 was rounded out by AF Corse’s satellite tv for pc #83 Ferrari pushed by Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye.
Peugeot missed out on a factors end regardless of the #94 9X8 operating strongly early on, notably with Malthe Jakobsen on the wheel.
Genesis made its long-awaited WEC debut at Imola, with Pipo Derani, Andre Lotterer and Mathys Jaubert ending fifteenth in one of the best of the GMR-001s. The sister #19 LMDh was delayed by an early sensor difficulty that consigned it to the storage for half an hour.
#69 Group WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO: Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson, Daniel Harper
Picture by: Jakob Ebrey / LAT Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
WRT took high honours within the LMGT3 class, with Dan Harper, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson profitable the season opener aboard the #69 BMW M4 GT3.
WEC newcomer Storage 59 appeared sure to transform pole place right into a win because the race entered the ultimate hour, with Antrares Au, Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhofer recovering from a sluggish first pitstop to retake the lead within the fourth hour.
However the #10 McLaren 720S GT3 stopped twice on monitor with 35 minutes to go because of an alternator downside whereas comfortably operating within the lead, granting the victory to the BMW.
The #69 BMW had jumped from fourth on the grid to second early, earlier than taking the lead within the second hour when McIntosh pulled off a superb move over the #88 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 of Stefano Gattuso at Rivazza.
Fixed adjustments in positions throughout subsequent pit cease cycles dropped it down the order, however an important overtake over the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Jonny Edgar within the fifth hour in the end secured the win.
Edgar, Blake McDonald and Nicky Catsburg finally completed second, whereas the rostrum was accomplished by the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Perra and Yasir Shahin.
The #92 Porsche was given a drive-through penalty early within the race for an unsafe launch, however recovered strongly within the last two hours. The sister #91 automobile shared by Ayhancan Guven, Timur Boguslavskiy and James Cottingham additionally made late strides to complete fourth, forward of the #32 BMW of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung.
ASP Lexus triggered the primary security automobile look of the race, with the #87 RC F GT3 stopping on monitor with a technical downside firstly of the second hour. The workforce’s different automobile had entered the storage simply prior with mechanical problems with its personal.
Pictures from Imola – Sunday
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
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Imola – Sunday, in pictures
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Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
Imola – Sunday, in pictures
1
8
Toyota GR010 – Hybrid
213
2
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
51
Ferrari 499P
213
13.352
3
7
Toyota GR010 – Hybrid
213
14.483
4
Alpine Endurance Group HYPERCAR
35
Alpine A424
213
5
BMW M Group WRT HYPERCAR
20
BMW M Hybrid V8
213
6
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
50
Ferrari 499P
213
7
BMW M Group WRT HYPERCAR
15
BMW M Hybrid V8
213
0.247
8
Cadillac Hertz Group JOTA HYPERCAR
38
Cadillac V-Sequence.R
213
9
Aston Martin THOR Group HYPERCAR
007
Aston Martin Valkyrie
212
10
83
Ferrari 499P
212
0.438
11
Alpine Endurance Group HYPERCAR
36
Alpine A424
212
26.272
12
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
94
Peugeot 9X8
212
16.124
13
Cadillac Hertz Group JOTA HYPERCAR
12
Cadillac V-Sequence.R
212
14
Aston Martin THOR Group HYPERCAR
009
Aston Martin Valkyrie
212
0.713
15
Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR
17
M. Jaubert
Genesis GMR-001
211
16
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
93
Peugeot 9X8
210
17
TEAM WRT LMGT3
69
D. Harper
BMW M4 GT3 Evo
194
18
33
B. McDonald
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
194
0.265
19
The Bend Manthey LMGT3
92
Porsche 911 GT3 R
193
20
Manthey DK Engineering LMGT3
91
J. Cottingham
Porsche 911 GT3 R
193
13.362
21
TEAM WRT LMGT3
32
BMW M4 GT3 Evo
193
22
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
21
Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo
193
4.041
23
Storage 59 LMGT3
58
B. Goethe
McLaren 720S GT3 Evo
193
24
88
Ford Mustang GT3
193
3.377
25
Coronary heart of Racing Group LMGT3
23
G. Newell
Ok. Pauwels
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
193
26
77
S. Priaulx
Ford Mustang GT3
193
27
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
54
Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo
192
28
IRON LYNX LMGT3
79
J. Zelger
Mercedes AMG GT3
192
7.957
29
Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR
19
Genesis GMR-001
170
30
Storage 59 LMGT3
10
A. Au
T. Fleming
McLaren 720S GT3 Evo
180
31
AKKODIS ASP Group LMGT3
78
H. David
E. Masson
Lexus RC F GT3
172
dnf
IRON LYNX LMGT3
61
Mercedes AMG GT3
172
Retirement
dnf
Racing Group Turkey by TF LMGT3
34
P. Dempsey
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
172
Retirement
dnf
Coronary heart of Racing Group LMGT3
27
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
172
Retirement
dnf
AKKODIS ASP Group LMGT3
87
R. Umbrarescu
Lexus RC F GT3
172
Retirement
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