WEC Imola: Ferrari returns to victory with Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado

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The No. 51 Ferrari 499P of pole-sitter Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado returned to victory on Easter Sunday in Imola, portray the day purple. It was the crew’s second WEC win, their first because the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023. Since then, there had been loads of unhealthy luck and some errors—none of which have been seen on the curves and undulations of the Santerno circuit.

The opposite Ferraris completed off the rostrum, with the No. 83 of Robert Kubica, Philip Hanson and Yifei Ye in fourth, and the No. 50 of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in fifteenth after a troublesome race. BMW claimed second place and Alpine third, each groups working constant races and cleverly making the most of technique alternatives. In GT3, Valentino Rossi, Ahmad Al-Harthy and Kelvin van der Linde got here simply 0.316 seconds in need of victory, following the Pesaro-born driver’s sensible pole place.

Easy Begin – The race started with the 2 Ferraris on the entrance row pulling away cleanly, with James Calado within the No. 51 main fellow Briton Philip Hanson within the No. 83. Kevin Magnussen within the No. 15 BMW held third and saved each Toyotas at bay for the primary two hours. In GT3, Ahmad Al-Harthy, ranging from pole within the No. 46 BMW, held the lead for a lot of his double stint, surrendering it solely briefly to the Ferrari of François Heriau. In the meantime, Nicklas Nielsen staged a exceptional comeback from eighteenth within the No. 50 Ferrari, carving by the sphere and handing over to Miguel Molina in fifth. Molina then overtook the No. 15 BMW, now pushed by Raffaele Marciello, to finish a Ferrari 1-2-3 round mid-race. Nonetheless, a security automotive triggered by contact between Valentino Rossi and the Ferrari 296 GT3 of Simon Mann shuffled the order and led to divergent Hypercar methods.

Technique Video games – When the race restarted, the order was turned on its head, with the No. 6 Porsche all of the sudden taking the lead after not altering tires. Antonio Giovinazzi reclaimed the highest spot for the No. 51 Ferrari, and the race remained finely balanced through the last two hours, with Alessandro Pier Guidi taking up on the wheel. Differing gasoline hundreds and tire methods saved the order in flux, however cautious administration introduced the No. 51 crew to victory by simply over eight seconds forward of the No. 20 BMW of Rast-Frijns-van der Linde, who impressed regardless of a rear wing change. Third went to the No. 36 Alpine of Jules Gounon, Frédéric Makowiecki and a robust Mick Schumacher, scoring his second WEC podium. The No. 83 Ferrari of Kubica-Hanson-Ye completed fourth after shedding time within the pits, whereas the No. 50 Ferrari of Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen dropped out of sequence as a result of early pit stops and later suffered a puncture after contact with the No. 8 Toyota, ending up solely fifteenth.

Rossi Second in a Dash End – Valentino Rossi missed out on a house win in GT3 by simply 0.316 seconds. The No. 46 BMW M4 crossed the road second, simply behind the No. 92 Porsche of Italy’s Riccardo Pera, Ryan Hardwick and Richard Lietz. After two commanding hours on the entrance by Ahmad Al-Harthy, the novice driver of the lineup, Rossi took the wheel in third and capitalized on a penalty for the chief, passing his teammate’s automotive and constructing a 30-second lead with a robust tempo. Simply over two hours from the tip, although, Rossi risked throwing all of it away with a collision with Simon Mann’s Ferrari 296 GT3, which was compelled into the boundaries and retired. A stop-and-go penalty dropped the automotive, now pushed by Kelvin van der Linde, to ninth. The South African then launched a spectacular comeback, reaching the chief within the last two laps and making an attempt an overtake that in the end didn’t stick. Third place in GT3 went to the No. 78 Lexus of Robin-Gehrsitz-Masson, with the best-finishing Ferrari in fifth place, pushed by Flohr-Castellacci-Rigon.

Championship Standings – Hypercar:After the Imola race, Giovinazzi-Calado-Pier Guidi transfer into the lead of the World Championship with 50 factors, forward of fellow Ferrari crews Kubica-Hanson-Ye (39 factors) and Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen (38 factors). Prime ten race outcomes:Ferrari #51 (Giovinazzi-Calado-Pier Guidi) – 212 lapsBMW #20 (Rast-Frijns-S. van der Linde) – +8.490Alpine #36 (Schumacher-Gounon-Makowiecki) – +12.450Ferrari #83 (Kubica-Hanson-Ye) – +20.597Toyota #8 (Buemi-Hartley-Hirakawa) – +23.210BMW #15 (Marciello-D. Vanthoor-Magnussen) – +25.516Toyota #7 (Conway-De Vries-Kobayashi) – +31.478Porsche #6 (Campbell-L. Vanthoor-Estre) – +41.280Peugeot #93 (Vergne-Jensen-Di Resta) – +50.904Cadillac #12 (Nato-Stevens-Lynn) – +53.300