Ferrari AF Corse’s James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi dominated nearly the entire weekend in Imola. Sunday (April 20) saw the trio lead 174 of 212 laps and time out their final pit stop perfectly to win the 6 Hours of Imola. It is Ferrari’s second straight win to start the season as the No. 50 won in Qatar back in February, but it’s the first win for the No. 51 Ferrari since 2023.
“The race was just amazing,” Calado said after the race. “The team did a superb job with the strategy. The car was brilliant to drive. I can’t say any more about my teammates, who did an amazing job. I’m over the moon.”
The margin of victory was 8.49 seconds over BMW M Team WRT’s Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde. Signatech Alpine’s Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki and Mick Schumacher were third, then the customer AF Corse Ferrari of Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye. Toyota GAZOO Racing’s Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa were fifth.
In practice, the No. 51 Ferrari was only out of the lead when pit stop sequences were in progress. Calado started from the pole and drove out to a decent advantage over Hanson in the customer Ferrari.
The only thing that truly broke things up at the front was a small threat of rain. Giovinazzi pitted from the lead with a big lead just as rain was threatening. While most of his rivals were either going with fuel only or two tires, Giovinazzi took four tires. That got him out of the pits in second behind Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Matt Campbell.
Despite that, Giovinazzi was well ahead of most of his immediate rivals, so he didn’t immediately strike back for the lead. That allowed him to save fuel, which would ultimately be critical to the drive to the finish.
The final hour of the race saw a number of drivers towards the front of the pack not having enough fuel to make it to the finish. Sheldon van der Linde pitted his BMW with 34 minutes to go, giving the lead to Pier Guidi. From there, Pier Guidi conserved his fuel and made it all the way for the win.
In LMGT3, Team WRT’s Ahmad Al Harthy started from pole in his BMW and led early over Vista AF Corse’s Francois Heriau. The veteran racer was able to keep Al Harthy in his sights and take the class lead away 40 minutes in.
The Heart of Racing’s Ian James was running decently Sunday in his Aston Martin, maintaining sixth in class until the 50th lap. That is when James was hit by Team WRT’s Yasser Shahin on the run down to Rivazza 1. James then spun into the gravel and into the barriers.
James, who doubles as the team principal, was able to walk away from the crash. He was done for the day, though.
Much of the middle portion of the race was a duel between Team WRT’s No. 46 and Akkodis ASP Team’s No. 87 Lexus. The teams traded the lead back and forth.
The most controversial moment in GT occurred in the fourth hour. Team WRT’s Valentino Rossi was fighting for the class lead with Vista AF Corse’s Simon Mann. Contact was made in Rivazza 2, resulting in Mann spinning into the gravel.
The incident brought out a virtual safety car period, which eventually became a full safety car period. Rossi was given a stop-and-go penalty for the contact, which would cost the No. 46 BMW 46 seconds.
The penalty brought the 1st Phorm Manthey squad into the mix, in addition to the Akkodis ASP Lexuses. Richard Lietz took the lead after a round of stops with 70 minutes to go. From there, it was going to be a tough fuel save to reach the finish.
One team that didn’t have to worry about that was the Team WRT No. 46. With Kelvin van der Linde at the wheel, the No. 46 moved up the order to get to Lietz’s rear wing in the closing laps. Lietz and Kelvin dueled over the final few laps, but Lietz was able to hold on to take the class win for himself, Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera.
The margin of victory was .316 seconds over Al Harthy, Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde. The two Akkodis ASP Team Lexus entries were third and fourth with the No. 78 of Finn Gehrsitz, Esteban Masson and Arnold Robin beating the No. 87 of Jose Maria Lopez, Clemens Schmid and Petru Umbrarescu. Vista AF Corse’s No. 54 Ferrari for Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Davide Rigon were fifth.
FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Imola Unofficial Results
The WEC will take a few weeks off before traveling to Belgium for the third round of the schedule. The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will be held on May 10 with live coverage on Max.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.