WEC Preview: 6 Hours of Imola 2025
- Aaron Carroll
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Gabriel Tsui
The 2025 6 Hours of Imola will take place this weekend, with the race set to get underway at 1pm local time, and run until 7pm in the evening.
This year's event will be the second WEC (World Endurance Championship) event held at the iconic 4.9km (3 mile) Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, following last season's debut at the circuit saw Toyota come away with the win after a close battle with Porsche at the end of the race.
The weather forecast is showing consistent temperatures around 18-20 degrees celsius, with rain predicted for Friday morning practice and during the race on Sunday. The teams have experience in wet conditions here, as rain affected the race last season. Many teams will be looking to take advantage of the wet weather with their setups and strategy.
The ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) released the BoP (Balance of Performance) for this weekend on Monday evening, with Porsche’s 963 seeing the biggest weight reduction in the Hypercar field, losing 11kg from Qatar.
Elsewhere, Ferrari and Cadillac will take on extra weight - eleven kilograms and eight kilograms respectively - while Aston Martin takes on an extra nine kilograms, despite being the slowest in the season opener.
This is due to the calculations used to calculate BoP, which uses a car's performance from the last three races. Since the Valkyrie is a new car, with just one event under its belt, the ACO uses the performance of the fastest cars in the previous events, this being Fuji and Bahrain of last year.
The system aims to give new manufacturers conservative BoP’s, to avoid a situation where a new car is as quick or quicker than already established competitors.
On the powertrain end of things, Alpine will see an 11 hp (horsepower) increase, but will lose 2.8% of their total power above 250 kph - a total loss of 5.4%. BMW, Ferrari and Cadillac all gain power, with Porsche and Toyota having small decreases.
As for the LMGT3 BoP, Ford will see a massive 21 kilogram decrease in their overall weight, with Mercedes getting a similar 19 kilogram break. Porsche will be getting a 16 kilogram decrease, with Ferrari, Corvette, BMW and Aston Martin all having smaller decreases in weight.
McLaren are the only LMGT3 manufacturer with six kilograms of added weight, while the Lexus will weigh the same as it did in Qatar.
With Ferrari looking to continue their good form on home ground, Cadillac looking for redemption, Porsche and Toyota hunting for the top step of the podium again and BMW, Alpine, Peugeot and Aston Martin all looking to taste WEC glory for the first time, the 6 Hours of Imola is a must watch event, with no one looking like a clear favorite.
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