WEC Preview: 6 Hours of Imola
- Benjamin Crundwell
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
The stage is set for a six-hour battle on the Tifosi's home soil in Imola for the opening round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Ferrari aren't just heading into the weekend as the home heroes, they are coming off the back of their maiden championship in the WEC in 2025 and they took the best three times in the prologue on Tuesday.
The No.50 was quickest with a 1:31.177, from the No.83 AF Corse and the No.51. The best of the rest was the No.20 BMW of Robin Frijns and Rene Rast, but they were 0.532 seconds from the No.50. Frijns and Rast will be joined by Sheldon van der Linde who did not drive on the test day.
The BMWs are once again being raced with support from WRT, they are looking for a stronger season this year, having only finished fifth in the Manufacturer's Championship last season out of the eight teams. Former Formula One driver Kevin Magnussen will be racing in the No.15, he is optimistic for the new season, saying: "we are right up there."
This will be Alpine's final season in the WEC, as they announced they will be pulling out of the WEC before the 2027 season. The French team have struggled to find their feet in the Hypercar era, but did get their first win in Fuji last year. Despite it being their last season, they may be more optimistic for this year after shakedown, as they finished with the fourth and fifth quickest times at the end of the day.
The 6 Hours of Imola will feature a new team on the grid. Genesis will race the GMR-001 for the first time this weekend, having completed months of testing and preparation in the lead up to their debut. The No.17 will be driven by previous WEC champion André Lotterer, Pipo Derani and Mathys Jaubert, whereas the No.19 will be driven by Mathieu Jaminet, Paul-Loup Chatin and Daniel Juncadella.
The South Korean manufacturer was 2.5 seconds off the pace in the prologue, however this will not concern them as they will use the race as a glorified test session to collect data which can be used to improve the team for the remainder of the year.
The team which do need to worry about their prologue results is Aston Martin. The No.007 Valkyrie finished 12th, a second and a half off the pace, but the No.009 crashed in the morning and failed to make the afternoon session. Aston Martin were new to the sport last year and failed to pick up any results worth writing home about - entering the new season they can no longer hide behind the "rookie shield."
Another new car will be on the grid in Imola, except its from the most successful team in the WEC's history, rather than its greenest. Toyota will race their evolved GR010-Hybrid this weekend with a striking red throw back livery. The car's updates are an attempt to push Toyota back to their winning ways, as they missed out on winning a championship last year for the first time since 2018.
The 6 Hours of Imola will be Toyota's 100th race in the WEC; satisfyingly they also have the option to win their 50th race in the series this weekend.
The final team on the Hypercar entry list is Peugeot, who, like Alpine, are searching for a turn of performance. Since the 9X8's debut in 2022, it has only finished on the podium four times and never won a race. Their pace in the shakedown was ok, finishing sixth and tenth, but they need to translate that into race pace now.
While the Valkyrie struggled in the prologue, it's LMGT3 counterpart had a much better day. The No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin was fastest by 0.051 seconds from the No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and the No.10 Garage 59 McLaren, who was another half a tenth back.
A lot of the focus is on the Hypercar class, however the LMGT3s always put on a nail biting race. It is impossible to predict which of the nine manufacturers will win this weekend, as there is such small margins across the grid.
Last years Champions, Manthey 1st Phorm, are semi-returning this year. Manthey will partner up with The Bend and DK Engineering in an attempt to take their third consecutive championship.
Porsche will once again have to fight off the resilient No.21 AF Corse Ferrari, which finished second in the Driver's Championship last year. Both Ferrari 296 GT3s will race with an unchanged line up from last year.
Perhaps the most controversial news over the winter break is the new procedures with the Balance of Performance (BoP). Previously the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) would release the information on BoP specifications on a Wednesday prior to the race. In an aim to reduce "speculation and misinterpretation" according to Deputy Director Bruno Famin, this information will no longer be released to the public or the media.
The news adds to the WEC's transparency problem, which started when drivers were banned from discussing the BoP online or with the media, to avoid controversy.
Qualifying will start at 14:30 local time (13:30 BST) on Saturday, and the race will be at 13:00 (12:00 BST) on Sunday. The drivers and teams will be pleased to see there is no rain forecast to interrupt the weekend, so they can get back into the groove without dealing with the chaos of rain.
