Alpine shock the timing tables by going quickest in Free Practice at Imola

Credit: WEC

Ferrari ended 2025 by taking the top three spots in the Drivers' Championship, and it looked as though they were going to start 2026 with the three fastest times of the first day of the 6 Hours of Imola weekend; however the No.35 Alpine took a surprise lead in FP2, followed by the No.7 Toyota.

FP1

The home team looked dominant in FP1, Robert Kubica was quickest in the No.83 AF Corse, with a 1:31.739. The No.50 Ferrari was second best, only 0.023 seconds behind. Securing an early one-two-three, the No.51 Ferrari was third. Across the two factory run Ferraris, they managed 92 laps.

The quickest non-Ferrari was the No.12 Cadillac, nearly half a second back from the No.83. Will Stevens and Norman Nato will race alone this round and next, as Alex Lynn can't participate in either race due to neck surgery.

The two Peugeot's were fifth and sixth from the No.8 Toyota, which could only get as close as eight tenths to the morning pace with the upgraded TR010 Hybrid. The No.35 Alpine which topped FP2 could only manage eighth in FP1, beating the two BMWs.

The No.007 Aston Martin failed to make the top 10 by only four hundredths of a second, but the No.009 was another half a second back. The British cars were separated by the No.7 Toyota, No.36 Alpine, No.38 Cadillac and the No.19 Genesis which completed the most laps of the morning session with 50 laps.

The No.17 Genesis set the slowest pace of the day, but still managed to stay within two seconds of the No.83 Ferrari - impressive considering its the GMR-001's first race weekend in the WEC.

FP1 was not smooth sailing for every car, especially in the LMGT3 class. Antares Au beached the No.10 Garage 59 McLaren at the Tamburello Chicane - fortunately he avoided the barrier. Regardless of Au's off, the car still managed 38 laps and set the fifth quickest time in the class.

The other Garage 59 McLaren was second quickest, two tenths behind the Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette. The No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari were only a small margin behind them in third and fourth respectively.

Darren Leung also avoided the barrier during his off at Variante Alta. His No.32 BMW ended the session in eighth, less than a tenth from the sister BMW.

Although they had a clean session, Ford had a disappointing morning. The two Proton Competition cars finished 16th and 17th out of the 18 competitors.

Credit: WEC

FP2

The quickest lap of Imola ever in a Hypercar was set by Antonio Giovinazzi in 2025, a 1:28.920. The fastest time of the day was over a second off this, so timings cannot be read into too closely as the cars are still getting up to pace. Regardless the timings are still indicative of who may be fast tomorrow come qualifying, and who is struggling.

The No.35 Alpine A424 of António Félix da Costa, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi is one of the cars which will carry confidence into the weekend, as it was the only car to break into the 1:30s in FP2 at the hands of Milesi. Both Alpines also showed strong pace during their race runs during their 93 combined laps - and the No.35 also set the best top speed (194.4kph) of any car across the two sessions.

The other Alpine has some homework to do overnight, only finishing in ninth.

Despite their ominous earlier pace, Ferrari did not manage to break the top two; the No.7 Toyota finished in second place. The two factory Ferrari's finished third and fourth, still a very positive result for the home manufacturer.

Peugeot's good run continued in FP2 for the No.94, who finished in fifth - Malthe Jakobsen set a 1:31.225 in his fifth lap, having also set their best time in FP1. Peugeot have struggled to find positive results since they joined the WEC, but if Jakobsen can set another quick time in Qualifying then the French team may be able to convert it into a strong result as Imola is a very difficult track to overtake at.

The No.20 BMW finished sixth, two hundredths ahead of the No.83 Ferrari which did mostly race runs rather than qualifying simulations. The No.007 Aston Martin improved on FP1, finishing eighth with a lap time 1.4 seconds quicker than in the morning.

The top 10 was rounded out by the No.8 Toyota, who was unable to match its sister car's pace.

The LMGT3 class improved significantly over lunch. The quickest from FP1, the No.34 Corvette only improved a tenth, to finish fifth, a place behind the other Corvette, but the No.78 Akkodis Lexus improved by a staggering 1.6 seconds, with the quickest lap time of the day.

The No.27 Aston Martin improved to second place, separating the No.78 from the No.87 Lexus. The No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari beat the two Iron Lynx Mercedes, which had a positive day regardless finishing seventh and eighth. Mercedes are another team also looking to improve on last year, as they are entering their second season in the WEC.

The WEC will be broadcast live for the first time this year on WEC TV tomorrow. FP3 will be at 10:30 local time (09:30 BST), and qualifying will take place at 14:30 (13:30 BST).