MOTORSPORT – FERRARI AF Corse clinched an impressive victory from pole last night in the Six Hours of Imola – the second round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The meeting was held at Ferrari’s home track, the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, in Italy.
The victorious trio of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado, and Alessandro Pier Guidi in their #51 Ferrari 499P Hypercar took the chequered flag after six gruelling hours of racing – making for their second straight win this WEC season. It followed their triumph in the WEC’s curtain-raising Qatar 1812km in February.
After a quick getaway in the race’s rolling start, the winners held on to their lead following the opening two hours and continued to stay in control heading into the race’s closing stages, despite their rivals closing in behind them.
They had briefly given away the advantage but took it back on the way to the finish after completing 212 laps around the world-famous 4.909-kilometre track. They were classified 8.940 seconds ahead of runners-up Rene Rast, Robin Frijns, and Sheldon van der Linde of BMW M Team WRT, driving their #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar.
Alpine Endurance Team’s #36 crew of Mick Schumacher, Jules Gounon, and Frederic Makowiecki joined their Ferrari and BMW rivals on the podium, classified 12.450s from the victors. They were behind the wheel of their Alpine A424 Hypercar.
AF Corse’s #83 crew of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Philip Hanson were fourth in their Ferrari 499P, while Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa in their #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid completed the overall top five – all of whom were competing in the WEC’s Hypercar class.
Taking the win in the LMGT3 category were Manthey 1ST Phorm, featuring Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, and Richard Lietz in their #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 car. They had 193 laps to take first place in class.
Taking second place in the WEC’s lower-tier division were Team WRT’s #46 crew of Valentino Rossi, Ahmad Al Harthy, and Kelvin van der Linde, who were the LMGT3 pole-sitters in their BMW M4 LMGT3 contender. The #78 trio of Arnold Robin, Finn Gehrsitz, and Esteban Masson came third in their Lexus RC F LMGT3 for Akkodis ASP Team.
The 2025 FIA WEC campaign features eight rounds in all. Following last night’s race in Imola, round three will be held at Spa in Belgium on May 10.
That will then set the stage for the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans in France on June 14 and 15, which will be the fourth round. The season’s fifth meeting will then take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 13, and then round six will be held in Austin, Texas on September 7.
The season’s seventh and penultimate meeting will take place in Fuji, Japan on September 28, paving the way for the championship-finale at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir on November 8.
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