FIA WEC Imola: Toyota wins a good race, Laurens Vanthoor and Porsche remain the leaders of the World Cup

The six hours of Imola have been a real spectacle, especially in the second half of the race. In front of a packed field, Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari fought to the finish in the second race of the FIA ​​WEC, although the Italians should be kicking themselves for considering their surprising strategy during the race’s only rain. The victory went to Toyota and the trio of Kobayashi-De Vries-Conway, after a bloody final race. Laurens Vanthoor, Kévin Estre and André Lotterer (Porsche) finished second and remain in the lead in the FIA ​​​​WEC. Victory in LMGT3 went to WRT BMW and the trio of Farfus-Gelael-Leung. The next FIA ​​WEC meeting will take place in Biashara-Francorchamps on May 9, 10 and 11.

Photo: © Toyota, Porsche and BMW

The FIA ​​WEC at Imola became a pure motorsport spectacle, with races where three and possibly four brands claimed victory. In the first half of the race, the Ferraris looked strong, but the rain after half the race turned the tide. For unknown reasons, three (!) Ferrari 499P stayed out on the slope longer than necessary and the race was lost to the Italians. Ferrari did not want to discuss strategic choices during the race.

Ahead we saw Toyota, Porsche, Ferrari and also BMW competing for the podium places, although BMW had to leave the competition in the last round. However, the #20 BMW M Team WRT car of van der Linde-Frijns-Rast would finish sixth and BMW took a big step forward in Italy.

Toyota without excess

At the front, the unluckily released Kévin Estre received a five-second penalty for an infringement under Full Course Yellow, which halted his pace. Kobayashi-De Vries-Conway eventually won by a narrow margin, ahead of the #6 Porsche 963. With Campbell-Christensen-Makowiecki third, Porsche did a good job in the Constructors’ World Championship. In addition, Laurens Vanthoor, Kévin Estre and André Lotterer will go to the Belgian Ardennes as leaders in the World Cup.

Behind the podium, the #50 Ferrari 499P of Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen finished fourth, ahead of the second Toyota of Hirakawa-Hartley-Buemi. We note that Peugeot and Cadillac scored their first World Cup points of the season with ninth and tenth place. Stoffel Vandoorne (Peugeot) finished fifteenth, Dries Vanthoor (BMW) last after problems in the opening phase.

Belgian party in LMGT3

And what about the WRT BMW Team in LMGT3? Vincent Vosse’s men took second place in Imola, with Farfus-Gelael-Leung ahead of Martin-Rossi-Al Harthy. Both crews continued to run on slicks throughout the rain! Martin and his colleagues succeeded in the final round, which could prevent them from the first victory in the FIA ​​WEC. Malykhin-Sturm-Bachler’s Manthey PureRxcing Porsche finished third and remain World Cup leaders. We also see a good seventh place for Tom van Rompuy in the TF Sport Corvette and of course the entry of the Iron Dames.

Selection now at Biashara-Francorchamps on May 9, 10 and 11!