Ferrari dominated the official Prologue take a look at 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 facility #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 prime of the order.
The three Ferraris had additionally led the way in which within the morning session and had been capable of consolidate their place on the entrance earlier than gentle rain hit Imola simply an hour after monitor motion resumed within the afternoon. A second bout of rain rendered any enhancements unimaginable, even because the monitor step by step 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 appeared 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 automobiles had been capable of lap within the 1m31s bracket, with Loic Duval in the perfect of the Peugeot 9X8 LMHs falling a tenth wanting that mark in seventh place.
#20 BMW M Group WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Rene Rast, Robin Frijns
Photograph by: FIA WEC / DPPI
The #15 BMW accomplished simply 26 laps within the morning session because the manufacturing facility WRT workforce carried out an engine change, however the crew was capable of ship the automotive again out on monitor 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 facility automobiles completed outdoors 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 take a look at was punctuated by three separate purple flags, with the primary and the most important interruption attributable to Marco Sorensen struggling a heavy crash within the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie. The V12-powered LMH sustained heavy harm within the incident and couldn’t be repaired through the day.
A second purple flag adopted within the afternoon attributable to what the FIA described because the “challenge 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 Coronary heart of Racing Group Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi
Photograph by: Federico Basile / AG Photograph
Whereas Aston Martin’s day was compromised by a crash for considered 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 courses, 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 adequate for sixth place, whereas Parker Thompson ended up seventh within the #69 BMW.
The highest 10 in school was accomplished by the #61 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the #32 BMW and the #27 Ferrari.
WEC Imola Prologue – Full outcomes:
Pos
Drivers
Group
Class
Greatest 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 Group WRT
Hypercar
1:31.709
+0.532
0.334
5
F. Makowiecki / J. Gounon / V. Martins
Alpine Endurance Group
Hypercar
1:31.872
+0.695
0.163
6
A. Félix da Costa / C. Milesi / F. Habsburg
Alpine Endurance Group
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
Okay. Magnussen / R. Marciello
BMW M Group 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 / Okay. Kobayashi / N. De Vries
Toyota Racing
Hypercar
1:32.487
+1.310
0.019
12
H. Tincknell / T. Gamble
Aston Martin Thor Group
Hypercar
1:32.593
+1.416
0.106
13
E. Bamber / S. Bourdais
Cadillac Hertz Group Jota
Hypercar
1:32.613
+1.436
0.020
14
W. Stevens / N. Nato
Cadillac Hertz Group 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 Group
Hypercar
1:33.710
+2.533
0.003
18
I. James / Z. Robichon / M. Drudi
Coronary heart of Racing Group
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 Group 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
Group 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
Group 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 / Okay. Pauwels / J. Adam
Coronary heart of Racing Group
LMGT3
1:43.224
+12.047
0.082
29
T. Van Rompuy / H. David / E. Masson
Akkodis ASP Group
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 Group
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
Images from Imola Prologue
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Imola Prologue, in images
Learn Additionally:
We wish your opinion!
What would you wish to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Group
