Practice report

WEC Imola: Ye fastest to lead Ferrari 1-2 in practice

Ferrari factory driver Yifei Ye topped the times in the opening practice session for this weekend's Imola round of the World Endurance Championship.

Ye went fastest half an hour into the first 90-minute session with a 1m31.347s aboard the customer AF Corse-run 499P Le Mans Hypercar to push the best of the works Ferraris with Antonio Fuoco at the wheel down to second position.

Fuoco ended up on 1m31.503s, which gave him a margin of nearly half a second over the first non-Ferrari, the Peugeot 2024 LMH driven by Mikkel Jensen that finished on 1m31.964s.

Lamborghini took fourth place with Mirko Bortolotti aboard the solo Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 LMDh.

The Italian's 1m32.015s briefly put him at the top of the times during the opening minutes of the first practice period.

The second factory Ferrari 499P took fifth place on a 1m32.065s from Antonio Giovinazzi.

A late improvement from Julien Andlauer propelled the Proton Competition team's customer Porsche 963 LMDh into sixth position ahead of the two factory cars.

The Frenchman's 1m32.253s gave him a margin of just eight thousandths over Matt Campbell's 1m32.261s in the first of the Penske Porsche Motorsport entries.

Kevin Estre was less than two tenths behind in eighth in the second PPM 963 with a best lap of 1m32.426s.

The pair of Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMHs ended up ninth and 10th in the times, a 1m32.505s from Nyck de Vries giving him a margin of two tenths over Sebastien Buemi's 1m32.739s in the sister car.

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

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

Callum Ilott ended up just outside the top 10 in the Jota Porsche that took the runner-up spot in last month's Qatar 1812 km WEC season-opener.

He narrowly edged out Rene Rast in the best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid LMDhs.

Matthieu Vaxiviere ended up 15th in the best of the Alpine A424 LMDhs with a time just under two seconds off the pace.

The TF Sport Chevrolet squad led the way in LMGT3 with its pair of Corvette Z06.R GT3s.

Daniel Juncadella's 1m42.113s set early in the session gave him a clear margin over team-mate Charlie Eastwood in the sister car, which lapped in 1m42.719s.

Davide Rigon was third in class in the fastest of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s with a 1m42.971s, which was just over a hundredth up on the best of the WRT BMW M4 GT3s in which Maxime Martin posted a 1m42.988s.

Alessio Rovera and Augusto Farfus took fifth and sixth respectively in the second cars from AF Corse and WRT.

Porsche took seventh position with the Manthey-run 911 GT3 R driven by Morris Schuring.

Aston Martin, Lexus and McLaren filled out the top 10 in LMGT3.

Second practice for Sunday's Imola 6 Hours begins at 17:15 local time.

WEC Imola FP1 Results

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	50	1'31.347		193.464
2	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	49	+0.156 1'31.503	0.156	193.134
3	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	39	+0.617 1'31.964	0.461	192.166
4	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	44	+0.668 1'32.015	0.051	192.059
5	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	45	+0.718 1'32.065	0.050	191.955
6	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	37	+0.906 1'32.253	0.188	191.564
7	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	38	+0.914 1'32.261	0.008	191.547
8	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	41	+1.079 1'32.426	0.165	191.205
9	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	49	+1.158 1'32.505	0.079	191.042
10	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	45	+1.392 1'32.739	0.234	190.560
11	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	43	+1.402 1'32.749	0.010	190.540
12	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	41	+1.432 1'32.779	0.030	190.478
13	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	45	+1.652 1'32.999	0.220	190.027
14	Isotta Fraschini HYPERCAR	11	A. Serravalle C. Bennett J. Vernay	Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione LMH	42	+1.713 1'33.060	0.061	189.903
15	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	39	+1.945 1'33.292	0.232	189.431
16	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin J. Gounon C. Milesi	Alpine A424	39	+2.112 1'33.459	0.167	189.092
17	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	36	+2.141 1'33.488	0.029	189.033
18	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	41	+2.224 1'33.571	0.083	188.866
19	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	4	+8.807 1'40.154	6.583	176.452
20	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	37	+10.766 1'42.113	1.959	173.067
21	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	38	+11.372 1'42.719	0.606	172.046
22	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	42	+11.624 1'42.971	0.252	171.625
23	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	37	+11.641 1'42.988	0.017	171.596
24	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	38	+11.741 1'43.088	0.100	171.430
25	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	45	+11.766 1'43.113	0.025	171.388
26	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	44	+12.151 1'43.498	0.385	170.751
27	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	42	+12.293 1'43.640	0.142	170.517
28	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	36	+12.363 1'43.710	0.070	170.402
29	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	38	+12.369 1'43.716	0.006	170.392
30	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	37	+12.423 1'43.770	0.054	170.303
31	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy D. Pin M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	38	+12.504 1'43.851	0.081	170.170
32	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	45	+12.524 1'43.871	0.020	170.137
33	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	36	+12.533 1'43.880	0.009	170.123
34	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	38	+12.670 1'44.017	0.137	169.899
35	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	37	+12.805 1'44.152	0.135	169.678
36	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	G. Roda M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	34	+12.851 1'44.198	0.046	169.604
37	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin T. Boguslavskiy K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	32	+13.150 1'44.497	0.299	169.118
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