Ferrari Fastest In Thrilling Imola Qualifying

Ferrari AF Corse placed on a dominant show in qualifying for his or her residence race on the 6 Hours of Imola. The Scuderia secured the highest three spots on the grid within the Hypercar class for the second spherical of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with Porsche Penske Motorsport behind them in 4th and fifth. In LMGT3, spherical one winners Manthey PureRxing secured the highest spot.

Hypercar

It will be exhausting for the weekend to be going significantly better for Ferrari AF Corse after qualifying. The Italian crew topped both practise sessions on Friday and FP3 on Saturday morning on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The Tifosi (Ferrari followers) have been overjoyed when the crew continued that run of kind in qualifying, with Antonio Fuoco taking Ferrari’s third Hypercar pole within the #50 automobile with a shocking lap time of 1:29.446.

The privateer Ferrari AF Corse crew got here second, with Robert Schwartzman posting a time of 1:29.885, with the opposite manufacturing unit Ferrari coming in simply 0.068 seconds behind that in third. Such constant efficiency shall be heart-warming for the crew who suffered a disappointing weekend on the season opening Qatar 1812km.

The crew who dominated that weekend in Qatar, Porsche Penske Motorsport, are subsequent on the grid. Race profitable #6 comes 4th, an thrilling 0.148 seconds behind the third Ferrari, with Matt Campbell, polesitter in Qatar, in fifth. Then comes reigning champions Toyota Gazoo Racing. Their mission is to get again on the rostrum. With their #7 automobile beginning in sixth and #8 in eighth, they stand to profit from any carnage between the Porsches and Ferraris.

First of the brand new groups for 2024 is BMW M Workforce WRT. They managed to separate the Toyotas with Rene Rast posting a 1:30.600. They might nonetheless be 1.134 seconds of the pole tempo, however to be within the combine with such veteran groups is definitely encouraging. The three privateer Porsche groups make up the following three positions, with Hertz Workforce JOTA taking ninth and eleventh, break up by the Proton Competitors Porsche in tenth.

The 2-driver Cadillac Racing automobile was twelfth quickest, adopted by the 2 Peugeot TotalEnergies automobiles. With their almost brand new Peugeot 9X8 making its debut, the crew have to work to familiarize yourself with it. Following an ideal third quickest time in FP1, they could be upset that each automobiles are over 2 seconds of the pole setting tempo. Lamborghini Iron Lynx line up sixteenth for his or her residence race, adopted by the 2 Alpine Endurance Workforce automobiles, with Isotta Fraschini rounding off the grid, over 1.5 seconds off the tempo of the Alpines.

LMGT3

In LMGT3, it was an ideal qualifying for many who triumphed in Qatar, whereas those that carried out properly in practise have been surprisingly off the tempo. Qatar winners Mathey PureRxing took pole with a lap time of 1:42.365, with Qatar’s second place finishers, Coronary heart of Racing Workforce, lining up alongside them of their Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3.

Workforce WRT lock out the second row. Italian followers can rejoice, as their hero Valentino Rossi‘s automobile, the #46 BMW M4 LMGT3 strains up in third, with the sister automobile alongside it. Sarah Bovy put her Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2, whereas Giorgio Roda put in an ideal drive to get his #88 Proton Competitors Ford Mustang LMGT3 alongside her in sixth. The Manthey Ema Porsche 911 GT3 RS LMGT3 is seventh, adopted by the 2 Vista AF Corse Ferraris, with the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo rounding out the highest 10.

TF Sport had been the dominant force within the LMGT3 class thus far in Imola. The crew shall be scratching their heads as to why they might solely handle eleventh and thirteenth on the grid in qualifying. They have been break up by the D’Station Racing Aston Martin. The #77 Ford Mustang is 14th, adopted by the second McLaren, the 2 Akkodis ASP Workforce Lexus RCF LMGT3 automobiles, and the Iron Lynx Lamborghini.

Up Subsequent

After the brand new Golden Age of endurance racing acquired off to such an unimaginable begin in Qatar, the stage is ready for one more thrilling spherical of the 2024 FIA WEC. Can Ferrari maintain onto these high three positions? Will Porsche work their magic and handle to grab victory from Ferrari at their residence race? Can Manthey PureRxing proceed their wonderful kind?

Observe The Checkered Flag for a full race report and press releases from the groups after the race. Full qualifying outcomes might be discovered here.