Giovinazzi puts the No.51 Ferrari on pole for Six Hours of Imola
- Tarun Suresh
- Apr 18
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 24
Written by Tarun Suresh - Edited by Pranav Sharma
The first Hyperpole session of 2026 saw very close competition, with the top four in the Hypercar class separated by just seven hundredths of a second. Antonio Giovinazzi put the No.51 Ferrari on pole by just more than one hundredth of a second.
In LMGT3, the No.10 McLaren, driven by Tom Fleming, will start on pole tomorrow after a stunning Lap from the Briton on debut.
The Results:
Hypercar
No.51 Ferrari AF Corse - A. Giovinazzi - 1:30.127
No.8 Toyota Racing - R. Hirakawa +0.011
No.50 Ferrari AF Corse - A. Fuoco +0.040
No.94 Peugeot TotalEnergies - M. Jakobsen +0.073
No.12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota - N. Nato +0.292
LMGT3
No.10 Garage 59 McLaren - T. Fleming - 1:41.181
No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus - H. David +0.226
No.87 Akkodis ASP Lexus - C. Schmid +0.364
No.69 Team WRT BMW - P. Thompson +0.410
No.32 Team WRT BMW - S. Gelael + 0.631
As it happened:
LMGT3
Qualifying
Martin Berry, piloting the No.61 Mercedes, with around eight minutes left, was the first to set a banker Lap with a 1:45.500 Lap time. He led the charts for about two minutes before being dethroned by Tom van Rompuy, driving the No.78 Lexus.
With five minutes on the clock, Alexander West in the No.58 McLaren had a spin at the exit of the first of the Rivazzas. Soon after, the Bronze drivers started pushing the limits, and it was Peter Dempsey behind the wheel of the No.34 Corvette who proved to be quickest of the bunch and led the rankings for the rest of the session.
Anthony McIntosh, behind the wheel of the No.69 BMW, was second fastest, a little less than seven tenths back. Darren Leung in the other WRT BMW, the No.32, was one tenth slower in third.
The others who made it to Hyperpole were: No.61 Mercedes, No.78 Lexus, No.88 Mustang, No.21 Ferrari, No.87 Lexus, No.10 McLaren and the No.91 Porsche.
Hyperpole
Timur Boguslavskiy in the No.91 Porsche was the first to finish a push Lap with a 1:45.500 time. Rui Andrade, piloting the No.61 Mercedes, however, was the one who was leading the charts once everyone had set a fast Lap.
Once everyone had set a banker Lap and started pushing to the limits, it was Fleming in the No.10 McLaren who came out on top with a 1:41.181.
The session was red-flagged after Salih Yoluç beached the car in the gravel at the exit of the first of the Rivazzas, the corner claiming its third victim in Qualifying.
In the end, nobody could beat the time set by Fleming, handing pole to him and the No.10 Garage 59 on his World Endurance Championship (WEC) debut. Fellow rookie Hadrien David, driving the No.78 Lexus, qualified second. The other Lexus, the No.87, was third. The two WRT BMWs were fourth and fifth, the No.69 ahead of No.32.
Hypercar
Qualifying
After a couple of warm-up laps, it was Charles Milesi in the No.35 Alpine who set the first push Lap with a 1:30.600 time with five and a half minutes left on the clock.
Once everyone had set a quick Lap, it was Antonio Fuoco driving the No.50 Ferrari leading the charts with a 1:30.088. Fuoco ended the session fastest as nobody could beat his time.
Robert Kubica in the No.83 Ferrari was second, a little more than one tenth behind. The No.7 Toyota was third fastest, only six hundredths behind the No.83.
The others who made it through to Hyperpole were: No.94 Peugeot, No.51 Ferrari, No.35 Alpine, No.8 Toyota, No.20 BMW, No.15 BMW and the No.12 Jota.
Hyperpole
Malthe Jakobsen was the first to set a push Lap with a 1:30.545 as the Peugeot was quick to warm up the tyres. Jakobsen improved by a further three tenths before anyone else set a fast Lap.
Giovinazzi went fastest, but by only half a tenth, and Fuoco was a quarter of a tenth behind the sister car in second.
Jakobsen soon split the Ferraris by 17 milliseconds, but not for long, as Fuoco went even quicker, but by only a little more than one hundredth. Ryo Hirakawa grabbed provisional pole at the chequered flag by almost three hundredths.
His time at the top didn’t last long as Giovinazzi bested the Japanese driver by 11 milliseconds to grab pole position for the No.51 Ferrari. The No.8 Toyota starts from the second row for its 100th Race. The sister factory Ferrari, the No.50, will start third.
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