WEC 2024 – 6 Hours of Imola – Ferrari misses rally, Toyota wins

The first half of the race was as expected, dominated by the number 50 and 51 Ferraris, James Calado in the number 51 challenging Miguel Molina in the number 50 and Toyota remaining in ambush with the number seven behind. third place followed by the No. 6 and No. 5 Porsche 963s.

The turning point in the race came in the fourth hour when it rained. Indeed, the race went under Full Course Yellow following the departure of Carl Bennett Isotta Fraschini No. 11 from the track. The Safety Car was also seen following Callum Ilott off the track in the No. 12 Team Hertz JOTA Porsche 963, while the No. 94 Peugeot saw its left front tire burst. Nyck de Vries in Toyota No. 7 then leads after defeating Miguel Molina at No. 50 Ferrari at the start of the previous Full Yellow Course. This was without relying on Miguel Molina who quickly took first place.

At this precise moment, considering the intensity of the rain, Toyotas and Porsches decided to change to rain tires when Ferrari remained on soft tyres.

Finally, as the rain continued to fall on the Italian circuit, the three Ferraris decided to return to the pits to finally put on wet tyres, which left the field open to the Toyota No. 7 of Kamui Kobayashi, which is now leading. of 7 Porsche 6 and Kévin Estre, these two never left each other until the checkered flag. Unchained, the French driver returned to the wheels of the Japanese driver without even being able to pass him, having also received a 5-second penalty following a roll under the Safety Car. Matt Campbell in the No. 5 Porsche took third in the final minute but was unable to catch up to the leading duo.

The late decision to put on wet tires when the entire field of hypercars has passed through the pits, was certainly a mistake by Ferrari that paid a heavy price, allowing a victory or even a hat-trick on the stage of the 6 hours of Imola.

In LMGT3, the number 92 Porsche, although Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler of the Manthey PureRxcing team, started fast, they could not resist the two BMWs after the rain. Indeed, two BMW M4 GT3s from Team WRT took the first two places with a daring but successful bet, that of putting light tires in the rain. Win bet for Team WRT, lose bet for Ferrari in Hypercar. In the end it was the number 31 BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael that won the LMGT3 category ahead of the number 46 sister car of Maxime Martin, Ahmad Al Harthy and Valentino Rossi followed by the Porsche 911 GT3 RN°. 92 of Manthey Pure Rxcing driven by Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler and Alex Malykhin.