6 Hours of Imola: Qualifying

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will start the 6 Hours of Imola from sixth and eighth on the grid after a hectic qualifying session in Italy for the second round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Kamui Kobayashi recorded a lap of 1min 30.410secs to earn sixth place in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries. Brendon Hartley was close behind, in eighth in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he races alongside fellow reigning World Champions Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

As in the season-opening race in Qatar, the GR010 HYBRIDs again faced weight, car balance and tyre challenges at Imola, which was reflected in a tough afternoon that saw Ferrari take pole position with a dominant performance.

Nevertheless, the team will use all its title-winning experience and strategy knowledge to extract the maximum from Sunday’s race and strengthen its challenge for a sixth consecutive World Championship.

Qualifying this season has a revised format and, on a sunny afternoon in northern Italy, all 19 Hypercars took to the track for a 12-minute opening session to decide the top 10 who progress to a Hyperpole shoot-out.

With 19 closely-matched Hypercars sharing the 4.909km track, the order changed frequently as the drivers brought their Michelin tyres up to temperature. In the final three minutes, Brendon’s best lap of the session put the #8 in third with Kamui just one place behind in the #7. A red flag briefly intervened and, although qualifying resumed, most cars could not improve their times, confirming both GR010 HYBRIDs into Hyperpole.

Despite dark clouds in the distance, conditions stayed dry for Hyperpole. Brendon’s progress was interrupted by a harmless spin with two minutes remaining in the 10-minute session, and he recovered to move into the top eight while Kamui left his best lap until the final seconds to snatch sixth place.

Local favourites Ferrari have demonstrated a clear pace advantage so far this weekend, so TOYOTA GAZOO Racing faces a challenge as it aims for its first podium of the season. But, inspired by the powerful team effort to earn points in Qatar, the team approaches Sunday’s race, which starts at 1pm CEST, in determined mood.

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.”

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.”

6 Hours of Imola – Free Practice 3

1st #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) 1min 31.238secs 33 laps
2nd #15 BMW M Team WRT (Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann) +0.034secs 32 laps
3rd #20 BMW M Team WRT (Van der Linde/Frijns/Rast) +0.305secs 32 laps
4th #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) +0.339secs 32 laps
5th #5 Porsche Penske (Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki) +0.433secs 32 laps
6th #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.477secs 32 laps
7th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.600secs 32 laps
9th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.677secs 32 laps

6 Hours of Imola – Qualifying

1st #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) 1min 30.196secs
2nd #5 Porsche Penske (Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki) +0.025secs
3rd #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.301secs
4th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.440secs
5th #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) +0.514secs
6th #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.540secs

6 Hours of Imola – Hyperpole

1st #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) 1min 29.466secs
2nd #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) +0.419secs
3rd #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.487secs
4th #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) +0.635secs
5th #5 Porsche Penske (Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki) +0.919secs
6th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.944secs
8th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +1.186secs