WEC-Imola: Ferrari 1-2-3 in Hyperpole

WECHyperCar

Apr 20

Ferrari tops Hyperpole

It’ll be a Ferrari front row for tomorrow’s race at Imola but not a red one as #50 Ferrari 499P and #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P did 1-2 during Hyperpole session this afternoon and will share front row ahead of red-sister #51. The trio of Ferrari 499Ps were the only cars to set sub 1:30 laps.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola.

Ferrari dominated the hyperpole session by sweeping the overall top three positions. Antonio Fuoco already dominated the qualifying session that defines the top 10 who would participate to the Hyperpole 8 minutes later. He did it again during the Hyperpole session by setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far in 1:29.466.

ANTONIO FUOCO: « The connection with the car was good from the morning’s free practice, which gave us confidence. I tried to keep focused, knowing that we had an excellent chance to do well in qualifying and in the Hyperpole, where I completed a special lap. Not only because of the weather but also because the surrounding atmosphere was inspiring, with so many fans in the stands cheering on Ferrari. I truly felt this warmth and pushed hard to do my best. I want to thank the entire team for their efforts today and over the past few weeks in providing us with a 499P that performed exceptionally well today. Tomorrow, we will start from the best position, but the race will be long and difficult. This is because some competitors are very strong and the track will be crowded, requiring us to manage traffic perfectly. » Source: Ferrari

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Robert Shwartzman with AF Corse customer Ferrari 499P #83 will start from first row as he ended the Hyperpole 0.419 seconds short from Fuoco’s lap time.

ROBERT SHWARTZMAN: « We secured second place on the grid, undoubtedly an excellent result. Today, for the first time in the World Endurance Championship, I competed in qualifying and the Hypercar and achieved this result for the team: I can only be delighted. There were ups and downs during the two sessions: a red flag interrupted qualifying when I could have improved my time, and a yellow flag in the Hyperpole. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the performance and look forward to tomorrow’s race. » Source: Ferrari

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Alessandro Pier Guidi slotted into third missing 0.069 seconds aboard the #51 Ferrari 499P.

ALESSANDRO PIER GUIDI: « Tomorrow, we will see three Ferraris leading at the 6 Hours of Imola, and that is fantastic news. I am delighted for our team, first and foremost, and for the enthusiastic crowd, which was already sizeable today on the eve of the race. After the morning’s free practice this afternoon, we knew we had a competitive 499P, so we hoped to secure a good starting position. We achieved this goal, which is absolutely crucial here at Imola because starting from the top positions reduces the risk at the start and during the first lap. We are pleased but aware that the race will be long and difficult. Several cars have shown similar performance levels and are highly competitive. We will do our best to bring joy to our fans. » Source: Ferrari

Two factory Porsche 963 follow

The two factory Porsche 963s ended up fourth and fifth, the #6 and #5 sixth and nine-tenths shy of pole respectively.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Kevin Estre completed the second row in the #6 Porsche 963 in 1:30.101.

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): “Because of the red flag, we qualified for the Hyperpole session with tenth place, which was very tight. Then when the yellow flag came out, I only had one flying lap in this very short session, but I think I did quite well. In my opinion, we couldn’t have done much more than fourth place behind the ‘reds’ today. Still, we’re optimistic about the race and looking forward to a good fight – let’s see if we can beat the Ferraris with a better strategy.” Source: Porsche

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Matt Campbell in Porsche 963 #5 was fifth in 1:30.385

Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #5): “My qualifying was really good and I was very pleased with the performance of our Porsche 963. Unfortunately, on my first flying Hyperpole lap, the tyres locked up while braking for Turn 1, which caused some serious flat-spotting. But we can be satisfied with our fifth place and P4 for the sister car. We got the best out of it – the top three were just a touch faster than us today.” Source: Porsche

A Toyota in third row

Both Toyota GR010-Hybrid will start from third and fourth row as Kobayashi with #7 ended sixth of the session and Hartley eighth.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi was 6th in 1:30.410.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We did everything we could but, unfortunately, we were quite a bit behind Ferrari, who were nearly a second faster than us. Sixth for our car and eighth for Brendon is not too bad for the race, and I think we have a chance to improve our positions. The track is quite narrow so overtaking will be difficult, also with the LMGT3 cars. I expect there will be a lot of action; hopefully we can make our way through it and get another strong result for the World Championship.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing

BMW M Hybrid V8 in seventh

Strong qualifying for Rene Rast taking the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 into Hyperpole before claiming seventh overall.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Rene Rast ended Hyperpole in seventh with a time of 1:30.600.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Brendon Hartley ended eighth in 1:30.652

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “I loved driving the car around here on low fuel and with new tyres. It’s a great old-school track so it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the result wasn’t what we hoped for. I think I had the pace for the top six, but I had some traffic on my fastest lap. I also had a spin in Hyperpole so it didn’t quite work out. I think fourth was potentially the best we could have achieved today but it wasn’t to be. So now we focus on the race, try to make a good start and maybe fight for a podium.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Two customer Porsche among the top 10 in Hyperpole.

Callum Ilott and Julien Andlauer completed the overall top ten with Hertz Team JOTA Porsche #12 and Proton Competition Porsche #99, respectively.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Callum Ilott was nineth in 1:30.656 with Hertz Team JOTA Porsche #12

Callum Ilott (Porsche 963 #12): “Making it into the Hyperpole was our main goal from the outset. We did that, and I managed a solid lap. The Porsche 963 felt good and I was able to make further progress. In the Hyperpole, the yellow phases made it more difficult. Ninth place on the grid is okay, but of course, we would’ve preferred a better result. We still have some work to do for the race. We want to get the best for ourselves.” Source: Porsche

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. After setting 7th lap time in qualifying, Julien Andlauer ended 10th in Hyperpole in 1:30.692

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 963 #99): “I’m very pleased with the tenth grid spot. After the first free practice session we struggled with power steering issues, which cost us a lot of track time. That’s why we started the qualifying with a baseline setup and hoped that it would be generally okay. With no experience with the tyres and little fuel on board, it was a bit difficult. Still, we managed to hold our own quite well against the other Porsche. We’ve definitely taken a step in the right direction. Now let’s see what we can do in the race.” Source: Porsche

IMOLA HYPERCAR HYPERPOLE RESULTS