Kamui Kobayashi held his nerve under pressure from Kevin Estre over the final hour to claim victory in the Six Hours of Imola for the number seven Toyota.
In a tense end to an eventful second round of the World Endurance Championship season, Kobayashi kept the number six Porsche Penske at bay to take the first win of the season for Toyota and team mates Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway.The number six Porsche of Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor pressed Toyota hard in the closing laps. But they needed to pass Kobayashi and pull out a five second margin to overcome a late time penalty for overtaking under Safety Car conditions.
Estre was unable to make a move on the Toyota, dropped back as they encountered a string of lapped cars around the narrow Imola circuit, and had to settle for second. Matt Campbell brought the number five Porsche Penske on the podium in third.
Home favourites Ferrari locked out the first three positions on the grid but failed to get a single car home in the podium places. The number 50 car of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen started from pole position and led early but the team lost out when rain arrived with just over two hours remaining.
Ferrari kept their trio of cars on slicks longer than many of their rivals, which saw them drop out of contention for victory. The number 50 499P ultimately finished in fourth, capitalising on a late mistake by Brendon Hartley in the number eight Toyota he shared with Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.
The number 20 BMW and the remaining Ferraris filled the next three places, the number 51 factory 499P ahead of the number 83 car. In their first race with their revised 9X8 and its new rear wing, Peugeot managed only ninth with the number 93 car while the number two Cadillac completed the top ten.
The number six Porsche Penske team lead the championship following their second place and their victory in the opening race in Qatar. The third round of the championship – the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – will take place on Saturday 11th May.
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WEC Six Hours of Imola race results
| Pos | No. | Class | Team | Car | Drivers | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Hypercar | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota GR010 | Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Nyck de Vries | 205 |
| 2 | 6 | Hypercar | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Porsche 963 | Kevin Estre/Andre Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor | 205 |
| 3 | 5 | Hypercar | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Porsche 963 | Matt Campbell/Michael Christensen/Frederic Makowiecki | 205 |
| 4 | 50 | Hypercar | Ferrari AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen | 205 |
| 5 | 8 | Hypercar | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota GR010 | Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa | 205 |
| 6 | 20 | Hypercar | Bmw M Team WRT | BMW M Hybrid V8 | Sheldon Van Der Linde/Robin Frijns/Rene Rast | 204 |
| 7 | 51 | Hypercar | Ferrari AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi | 204 |
| 8 | 83 | Hypercar | AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Robert Kubica/Robert Shwartzman/Yifei Ye | 204 |
| 9 | 93 | Hypercar | Peugeot | Peugeot 9X8 | Mikkel Jensen/Nico Mueller/Jean-Eric Vergne | 203 |
| 10 | 2 | Hypercar | Cadillac Racing | Cadillac V-Series.R | Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn | 203 |
| 11 | 38 | Hypercar | Team Jota | Porsche 963 | Jenson Button/Philip Hanson/Oliver Rasmussen | 203 |
| 12 | 63 | Hypercar | Lamborghini Iron Lynx | Lamborghini SC63 | Mirko Bortolotti/Edoardo Mortara/Daniil Kvyat | 203 |
| 13 | 35 | Hypercar | Alpine Endurance Team | Alpine A424 | Paul-Loup Chatin/Jules Gounon/Charles Milesi | 201 |
| 14 | 12 | Hypercar | Team Jota | Porsche 963 | William Stevens/Callum Ilott/Norman Nato | 200 |
| 15 | 94 | Hypercar | Peugeot | Peugeot 9X8 | Paul di Resta/Loic Duval/Stoffel Vandoorne | 199 |
| 16 | 36 | Hypercar | Alpine Endurance Team | Alpine A424 | Nicolas Lapierre/Mick Schumacher/Matthieu Vaxiviere | 199 |
| 17 | 11 | Hypercar | Isotta Fraschini | Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C | Antonio Serravalle/Carl Wattana Bennett/Jean-Karl Vernay | 191 |
| 18 | 31 | LMGT3 | Team WRT | BMW M4 | Darren Leung/Sean Gelael/Augusto Farfus | 187 |
| 19 | 46 | LMGT3 | Team WRT | BMW M4 | Ahmad Al Harthy/Valentino Rossi/Maxime Martin | 187 |
| 20 | 92 | LMGT3 | Manthey Purerxcing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler | 186 |
| 21 | 55 | LMGT3 | Vista AF Corse | Ferrari 296 | Francois Heriau/Simon Mann/Alessio Rovera | 186 |
| 22 | 27 | LMGT3 | Heart Of Racing Team | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Ian James/Daniel Mancinelli/Alex Riberas | 185 |
| 23 | 95 | LMGT3 | United Autosports | McLaren 720S Evo | Joshua Caygill/Nicolas Pino/Marino Sato | 185 |
| 24 | 81 | LMGT3 | TF Sport | Corvette Z06.R | Tom Van Rompuy/Rui Andrade/Charlie Eastwood | 185 |
| 25 | 82 | LMGT3 | TF Sport | Corvette Z06.R | Hiroshi Koizumi/Sebastien Baud/Daniel Juncadella | 185 |
| 26 | 77 | LMGT3 | Proton Competition | Ford Mustang | Ryan Hardwick/Zacharie Robichon/Ben Barker | 184 |
| 27 | 777 | LMGT3 | D’Station Racing | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Clement Mateu/Erwan Bastard/Marco Sorensen | 184 |
| 28 | 59 | LMGT3 | United Autosports | McLaren 720S Evo | James Cottingham/Nicolas Costa/Gregoire Saucy | 184 |
| 29 | 54 | LMGT3 | Vista AF Corse | Ferrari 296 | Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon | 184 |
| 30 | 60 | LMGT3 | Iron Lynx | Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 | Claudio Schiavoni/Matteo Cressoni/Franck Perera | 183 |
| 31 | 78 | LMGT3 | Akkodis Asp Team | Lexus RC F | Arnold Robin/Timur Boguslavskiy/Kelvin Van Der Linde | 183 |
| 32 | 87 | LMGT3 | Akkodis Asp Team | Lexus RC F | Takeshi Kimura/Esteban Masson/Jose Maria Lopez | 182 |
| 33 | 91 | LMGT3 | Manthey Ema | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Yasser Shahin/Morris Schuring/Richard Lietz | 171 |
| 34 | 15 | Hypercar | Bmw M Team WRT | BMW M Hybrid V8 | Dries Vanthoor/Raffaele Marciello/Marco Wittmann | 163 |
| 35 | 99 | Hypercar | Proton Competition | Porsche 963 | Harry Tincknell/Neel Jani/Julien Andlauer | 167 |
| 36 | 85 | LMGT3 | Iron Dames | Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 | Sarah Bovy/Doriane Pin/Michelle Gatting | 33 |
| 37 | 88 | LMGT3 | Proton Competition | Ford Mustang | Giorgio Roda/Mikkel Pedersen/Dennis Olsen | 82 |
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World Endurance Championship
- Lotterer, Estre and Vanthoor clinch WEC drivers’ title, Toyota win constructors’
- Penske Porsche poised to clinch title after winning incident-packed Fuji Six Hours
- Hyundai to launch hypercar racing programme under Genesis brand
- Court of Appeal rejects Ferrari’s challenge to WEC Six Hours of Spa result
- Kubica, Shwartzman and Ye grab first win ahead of charging Toyota at COTA
Mars
21st April 2024, 19:11
Scuderia Ferrari loves to prove how unskilful an organisation they are again and again in every competition they attend.
Complimenti, squadra brillante.
MichaelN
21st April 2024, 20:13
While that is very unfair for a team sitting second in the F1 standings, and AF Corse running the WEC team on behalf of Ferrari, it’s nevertheless true that if a team wants to take a gamble it’s not a great play to do so with both cars.
Decades of racing history show that the ‘we’ll stay on slicks’ trick just about never works. When it does, it’s heroic. But that’s because it’s super rare that it does. It’s imperative to be on the proper tyres, even if that means making a bunch of extra stops.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
21st April 2024, 19:35
There seems to be a first-corner pile-up every time with these so-called endurance racers!
Loved watching these cars around a proper undulating twisty track, especially in dodgy wet/dryish conditions. F1 probably won’t race half as well there, but I’m looking forward to the Grand Prix.
StephenH
22nd April 2024, 10:31
If WEC had a free-to-air TV deal in the UK, Formula One would be in big trouble.
Jon
22nd April 2024, 19:10
I been F1 since late 80s. It’s just not same any more but when i watch is just feels like proper racing. Could we have 4 more races please in Silverstone , Monza ,portamo and sepang.
F1 would be gone for me if they did
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd April 2024, 21:02
WEC keeps turning up good, despite the best efforts of the FIA. Love watching Toyota walk all over Porsche. Bring it on.