Race report

WEC Imola: Toyota beats Porsche to win rain-impacted thriller

Toyota took its first World Endurance Championship victory of the season over Porsche at Imola, after choosing the correct tyres in a mid-race rain shower that caught out Ferrari.

Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi won by 7.081s in their #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar over the #6 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 LMDh of Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre, both crews taking advantage of a timely switch to wets when the previously dominant Ferraris attempted without success to keep its dry tyres working.

Starting sixth, Conway overtook Fred Makowiecki's PPM Porsche at the restart following an early safety car, then gained two places at the first round of stops by overcutting Robert Kubica's customer AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P LMH and benefitting from a slow stop for early leader Nicklas Nielsen's factory #50 Ferrari - who required a fresh left-rear tyre.

Running third, Conway tracked Vanthoor to the next round of stops before handing over to de Vries, who swiftly leapfrogged Lotterer.

Nielsen had vaulted back to second behind team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi's #51 Ferrari by the time the pair finally stepped out of their respective cockpits approaching half-distance, with de Vries by this time close behind.

James Calado (in for Giovinazzi) had to defend hard against Miguel Molina (in for Nielsen) when he climbed aboard with new right-hand tyres but held off the Spaniard's determined attacks and had pulled away by the time De Vries then took second.

The Dutchman responded quickest to the end of a full course yellow, required when Carl Wattana Bennett crashed the Isotta Fraschini at Variante Alta.

Conditions were becoming tricky, and when Callum Ilott beached his Jota Porsche in the gravel at the first Rivazza, having gone slightly off-line passing the Iron Lynx Lamborghini, it brought out a virtual safety car that would turn into a full safety car.

Start action, #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

This came moments after Calado had pitted under green - and once others had made their stops under the caution, he rejoined fourth with Kobayashi now leading Molina and Estre.

Molina immediately pounced on Kobayashi when the race went green amid worsening rain, with the Hypercars struggling to warm their tyres to the extent that both cars were overtaken by Joel Sturm's GT3 class-leading Porsche.

Crucially, Kobayashi immediately dived into the pits for wets, as did Estre, while all three Ferraris stayed out. It proved the wrong call, with Kobayashi and Estre multiple seconds faster per lap and the track especially treacherous in the final sector.

This prompted the trio of Ferraris to follow Matt Campbell (in the second PPM Porsche) in bailing on the slicks and switching to wets, Calado passing the newly-inserted Antonio Fuoco (in for Molina) for sixth - although they would later swap places again.

The time the Ferraris had lost could not be recovered to pose a challenge for the podium, although it gambled by keeping Alessandro Pier Guidi (in for Calado) on wets shortly before the remainder of the Hypercar runners pivoted back to slicks.

Campbell vaulted ahead of the second Toyota driven by Brendon Hartley with a later switch of rubber after the New Zealander went into the gravel on the exit of the Villeneuve chicane.

Kobayashi also straightlined the Tamburello chicane following his own change of tyres, but kept his lead intact over Estre.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries

Photo by: Paul Foster

The Frenchman dipped into the Rivazza gravel while pursuing Kobayashi, and again exiting the Villeneuve chicane, but managed to get within a second entering the closing stages.

However, a five-second penalty for overtaking under the safety car meant he needed to both overtake the Toyota and pull out a gap, which proved an insurmountable task.

Campbell, Makowiecki and Michael Christensen secured third ahead of Nielsen, Molina and Fuoco, the latter passing Hartley on the final lap when the Toyota he shared with Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa locked up into the Tamburello chicane.

A late drive-through penalty for a pit infringement ultimately had little bearing on the result for the leading WRT-run BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh of Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde, who recorded the Bavarian marque's best finish of its return to the WEC so far in sixth.

After ditching his aged wets, Pier Guidi repassed the third Ferrari of Yifei Ye, which had earlier served a penalty for a full course yellow infringement during Kubica's stint, to finish seventh.

The much-revised Peugeot 9X8 LMH recorded points in ninth on its first appearance, courtesy of the #93 car driven by Nico Muller, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne, while Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn completed the top 10 in the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh.

Alpine's hopes of a strong result were thwarted at the first corner, when Matthieu Vaxiviere clashed with Paul di Resta's Peugeot and the BMW of Marco Wittmann, whose spinning car forced the second Alpine of Charles Milesi to take avoiding action in the gravel.

#36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher, Matthieu Vaxiviere, #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

Vaxiviere was given a one-minute stop-go penalty for the incident, which followed his damaged car understeering into the barriers on the exit of the Tamburello Chicane and collecting an advertising hoarding.

After the race, both of the Signatech-run Alpines were penalised further as Nicolas Lapierre and Jules Gounon had not completed their minimum driving time.

Lapierre drove for just 45m38s and his #36 car was thus handed a penalty of nine laps, although only loses one place in the overall classification to 17th, while Gounon on his Hypercar debut replacing the injured Ferdinand Habsburg drove for 55m46s and received a two-lap penalty that drops the #35 entry from 13th to 15th.

Wittmann's car later rejoined after repairs but spun off in the hands of Raffaele Marciello at the treacherous second Rivazza.

Milesi's car also found the gravel a second time later on when Paul-Loup Chatin was caught out at the Acque Minerali, the same spot where Julien Andlauer rotated the Proton Porsche that later retired to bring out another FCY.

BMW scores 1-2 in LMGT3

The WRT team enjoyed a day to remember in the LMGT3 class by recording a 1-2 finish with its BMW M4 GT3s.

Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus beat the sister car of Ahmad al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin by 22.838s.

Key to its victory was the timing of its first driver changes, as Leung exceeded his minimum bronze time of 1hr45m by just five seconds, while al Harthy completed only 80 seconds more than was necessary.

Polesitter Alexander Malykhin controlled the early phases of the race in his Pure Rxcing Porsche, but crucially had to get back into the car later after ending his double stint just short of the minimum.

Podium GT: #31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Augusto Farfus

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

The extra pit visit to cycle back to its silver driver, Sturm, meant he was in turn driving for half an hour longer than WRT's silvers Gelael and Rossi.

When Sturm came in to hand over to Klaus Bachler, who took on wet tyres, the slick-shod BMWs then duelled for the lead between them and Martin was unable to hold off the attentions of Farfus.

Moments after straightlining Tamburello, Martin got sideways exiting Acque Minerali and the Brazilian pounced to take the lead into the Variante Alta chicane.

A drive-through penalty for not respecting VSC procedure ended any hopes of victory for the #46 BMW, but did not cost it third place to the Manthey-run Porsche of Malykhin, Sturm and Bachler.

The AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 of Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera finished fourth after a late clash with Heart of Racing's Aston Martin Vantage driven by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas that resulted in both taking a trip across the gravel entering the Tamburello chicane.

WEC Imola 6 Hours Result

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Retirement	Points
1	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	205	-		7
2	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	205	+7.081 7.081	7.081	7
3	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	205	+25.626 25.626	18.545	7
4	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	205	+31.469 31.469	5.843	7
5	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	205	+33.777 33.777	2.308	7
6	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	204	+1 Lap 12.769	1 Lap	8
7	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	204	+1 Lap 26.891	14.122	8
8	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	204	+1 Lap 28.673	1.782	8
9	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	203	2 laps		7
10	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	203	+2 Laps 20.774	20.774	8
11	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	203	+2 Laps 54.691	33.917	7
12	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	203	+2 Laps 1'04.594	9.903	7
13	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin J. Gounon C. Milesi	Alpine A424	201	4 laps		7
14	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	200	5 laps		8
15	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	199	6 laps		8
16	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	199	+6 Laps 11.206	11.206	8
17	Isotta Fraschini HYPERCAR	11	A. Serravalle C. Bennett J. Vernay	Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione LMH	191	14 laps		8
18	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	187	18 laps		8
19	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	187	+18 Laps 1'41.458	1'41.458	9
20	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	186	19 laps		9
21	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	186	+19 Laps 1'37.562	1'37.562	11
22	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	185	20 laps		9
23	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	185	+20 Laps 23.089	23.089	8
24	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	185	+20 Laps 27.959	4.870	9
25	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	185	+20 Laps 46.235	18.276	9
26	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	184	21 laps		9
27	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	184	+21 Laps 55.766	55.766	10
28	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	184	+21 Laps 1'05.689	9.923	8
29	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	184	+21 Laps 1'28.990	23.301	9
30	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	183	22 laps		10
31	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin T. Boguslavskiy K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	183	+22 Laps 1'24.458	1'24.458	9
32	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	182	23 laps		10
33	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	171	34 laps		11
34	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	163	42 laps		7
35	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	167	37 laps		7	Retirement
36	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy D. Pin M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	33	172 laps		4	Retirement
37	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	G. Roda M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	82	123 laps		10	Retirement
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