It’s been an amazing begin to their house race weekend for Ferrari AF Corse. The Italian staff secured the highest spot within the Hypercar class within the first two practise classes because the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will get prepared for the 6 Hours of Imola, the second spherical of the championship. In LMGT3, it was one other double success, this time for TF Sport and their pair of Corvette ZO6 LMGT3.R vehicles.
Hypercar
The Italian followers had an outstanding begin to their Friday on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. In FP1, 4 out the highest 5 vehicles had been Italian. The #83 Ferrari led the best way with China’s Yifei Ye posting a 1:31.347, placing the privately run Ferrari 0.156 seconds forward of the manufacturing facility run #50 automobile. Splitting the Italian pack was Peugeot TotalEnergies. The French staff might be delighted with third, as their automobile has undergone a serious overhaul earlier than this spherical.
Equally delighted might be Lamborghini Iron Lynx, who secured an excellent 4th place at their house observe. They are going to be hoping to proceed that type because the weekend progresses. The ultimate Ferrari, the #51 automobile, posted a 1:32.065 to spherical out the highest 5.
Then got here a trio of Porsches. As soon as once more, a privateer staff beat the manufacturing facility outfit because the #99 Proton Competitors automobile led the 2 Porsche Penske Motorsport machines house. Reigning world champions Toyota Gazoo Racing completed FP1 in ninth and tenth The Japanese staff are focusing on a podium this weekend in Imola, so there’s work to be finished in the event that they wish to obtain their objectives.
FP2 additionally noticed success for Ferrari, this time for the manufacturing facility staff as Antonio Fuoco posted a 1:30.957 within the #50 automobile. This time, nevertheless, the primary competitors got here from Porsche Penske Motorsport. The #6 automobile that dominated the opening race on the Qatar 1812km seemed on flying type as Kevin Estre posted a greatest time simply 0.342 seconds behind Fuoco. Robert Schwartzman within the #83 Ferrari maintained the brisk tempo of his automobile, posting a greatest time a mere 0.032 seconds of the tempo of the Porsche.
The sister vehicles fared much less properly. The #51 Ferrari got here in ninth and the #5 Porsche might do no higher than 18th. Toyota fared higher in FP2 with Brendon Hartley taking his Toyota GR010 – Hybrid all the best way as much as 4th. Callum Ilott continues his spectacular debut season by ending up fifth for Hertz Crew JOTA in his Porsche 963.
Peugeot’s spectacular tempo continued. Their two vehicles completed sixth and eighth on the leaderboard, an encouraging consequence for the brand new look Peugeot 9X8. Mick Schumacher, who has expertise of racing at Imola in F1, took the one prime ten end for Alpine Endurance Crew within the second session, whereas Raffaele Marciello did the identical honours for BMW M Crew WRT by ending tenth total.
LMGT3
Within the LMGT3 class, the sector was dominated by TF Sport. The staff had seemed very speedy all through the Qatar 1812km weekend, solely to have their race cruelly ended prematurely. Clearly they’re on a mission to settle the rating, ending 1st and 2nd in FP1 and 1st and third in FP2. Barring any main calamities, they could properly show to be a troublesome staff to beat.
In one other good consequence for the Italian house groups, Vista AF Corse had been the one staff to separate the Corvettes. Alessio Rovera posted a good time of 1:42.173 to separate the 2 American vehicles in FP2. That automobile completed fifth in FP1 whereas the sister automobile, pushed by Davide Rigon, completed third, that means the prancing horse might see the form of success in Imola that Porsche secured in Qatar.
Crew WRT additionally had a powerful FP1. The #46 BMW M4 LMGT3, shared with native hero Valentino Rossi, got here in fourth with the sister automobile ending sixth. The quickest Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 got here in seventh place, whereas the Mathey PureRxing, winner of the season opener, might solely handle thirteenth. Equally, in FP2, these two Porsches got here in 14th and tenth respectively. They might want to pull some efficiency out of the bag earlier than qualifying on Saturday to copy their success.
Elsewhere in FP2, Coronary heart of Racing put in a powerful efficiency to return 4th of their Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 with the sister automobile coming in sixth. The Iron Lynx and Iron Dames duo of Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 vehicles got here in eighth and tenth, cut up by the #31 BMW, the quickest the Bavarian staff might handle in FP2.
Whereas practise groups are by no means a real indication of race tempo, the outcomes of FP1 and FP2 each counsel that we must be in for an enthralling weekend of endurance racing in each Hypercar and LMGT3 courses. The lap distinction between the highest of the 2 courses is a mere 10 seconds, that means overtaking and site visitors administration, as predicted, will play an important function in Sunday’s race.
Full outcomes of FP1 and FP2 can be found right here.
