This week’s 6 hour race at Imola marks the first visit for Toyota Gazoo Racing and their World Endurance Championship program. The 2024 season got off to a great start for the Japanese manufacturer with a both cars scoring points in the season opener in Qatar. Toyota Gazoo Racing currently sits 2nd in the WEC championship standings. They will be looking to make a charge for first place this weekend in it’s first visit to Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Imola replaces Monza as the circuit is currently undergoing renovations.
Words From Toyota Gazoo Racing
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7):
“I am looking forward to racing again at Imola and getting back behind the wheel of the GR010 HYBRID. I had a great experience in NASCAR at Austin last month, but now it’s back to WEC business and I’m fully focused on Imola…I raced quite a lot in Italy as a young driver, so I know the track well, and I won races there too. It will be a challenge to win this weekend on a new track for our car, but we are pushing hard together as one team to get the best possible result. As always, the key will be to make a strong start in practice and quickly find a good set-up direction for our car, then execute a clean race, using our experience and team spirit.”
The Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC Racing Team. Photo courtesy of Toyota Gazoo RacingRyo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8):
“Imola is another new track to learn with our GR010 HYBRID, but I tested a Formula 1 car there last month and raced an LMP2 in ELMS a few years ago so I am quite familiar with the layout. I expect it will be exciting to drive with a Hypercar and it should be spectacular for the fans. I hope this track will be more suited to our car compared to Qatar, which was a difficult weekend. The team has worked hard to prepare and find ways to come back stronger. I can’t wait to get started.”
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7):
“I’m looking forward to the start of the European season and we’re expecting a lot of Italian fans, so the atmosphere should be something special. It’s a new track on the WEC calendar, and it’s very narrow and challenging, so it’s exciting to see how we get on as a team. It’s a short event compared to Qatar, and we don’t get that much track time prior to the race, so we need to hit the ground running. Hopefully we can have a good weekend and fight at the front.”
Next up on the calendar for the World Endurance Championship is the 6 hours of Imola. Imola will be the first 6 hour race of the year providing fans with an exciting and action-packed race day, featuring intense on-track battles, strategic maneuvering, and moments of drama as teams and drivers push themselves and their machines to the limit in pursuit of victory. The Imola circuit, officially known as the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, is located near the town of Imola in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The circuit holds high esteem amongst racing legends and fans alike.
37 cars have entered the race set to take place next weekend. The race weekend schedule is below:
Race Timetable (Local Time)
Friday 19 April
Free Practice 1: 12:00 – 13:30
Free Practice 2: 17:15 – 18:45
Saturday 20 April
Free Practice 3: 11:10 – 12:10
Qualifying + Hyperpole: 14:45 – 15:55
Sunday 21 April
Race: 13:00 – 19:00
Key Quotes
Frederic Lequien (CEO FIA WEC):
“It is an honor for the FIA WEC to visit Imola for the first time in 2024, a circuit steeped in motorsport history and where we are made to feel very welcome. We visited Imola with the European Le Mans Series in 2022, and it was a huge success. This year, with 14 manufacturers including Ferrari, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini plus our Italian star drivers such as Valentino Rossi and Antonio Giovinazzi, everything is in place for an unforgettable event”.
Marco Panieri (Mayor City of Imola):
“We are proud and honored to be able to host in our International Autodrome “Enzo and Dino Ferrari” the 6 Hours of Imola of the World Endurance Championship exactly fifty years after the first race. The most important world endurance event, one of the most striking and relevant in the motorsport scene, a competition that is expanding and finding renewed interest with the entry of new car manufacturers in particular from our Motor Valley. It is an incredible opportunity for all of Emilia-Romagna, not only for Imola, which greatly enriches the 2024 event calendar with more than 50,000 expected attendees.
On the occasion of the Finali Mondiali Ferrari 2022, it was at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari that the Ferrari Hypercar 499P, which later triumphed at Le Mans in 2023, was presented to the world. But not only that, it is also a great comeback exactly 40 years after the last race held in 1984, after a first edition in 1974, which at that time was the World Sportprototype Championship with the “1000 km of Imola”. We are intent on working on the multi-year nature of the event, and Imola is preparing with collateral events and initiatives that will connect the Autodromo and the historic center.
It will be an event integrated with the city, participatory and inclusive with a weekend dedicated to the promotion of excellence and Made in Italy. In this regard, I can confirm that we have obtained the inclusion of the Imola weekend in the official calendar of initiatives of the National Made in Italy Day promoted by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy.”
The 2024 6 Hours of Imola Entrant List
The initial announcement that the Iron Lynx and Lamborghini were partnering up to launch a GTP program in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship sparked a frenzy amongst racing face all around the word. After months of anticipation the fans finally got their first opportunity to see the Lamborghini SC63 in action during a race. The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 finshed 7th overall in their debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring; a feat that the team admitted wasn’t expected.
Driver Matteo Cairoli said, “I didn’t expect such a great result and I’m delighted for what we achieved today in our first race with this car. I want to thank the team because they never stopped working as hard as possible. I’m extremely happy to be part of this team. To finish less than 30 seconds away from the lead in a 12-hour race on such a tough track is something I could not believe at the start. We now enjoy the moment, and we will prepare to get back on track even more competitive in the next rounds.”
Words from the Team Racing Director
The 12 Hours of Sebring is a test of reliability for the manufacturers. Lamborghini knows they can build a car that possess the build quality to finish an 12 hours endurance race. Emmanuel Esnault, Racing Director, “We can be proud of what we accomplished at Sebring. We completed one of the toughest races in the world and overcame every obstacle that came to us.
Our drivers and team members worked incredibly hard, constantly adapting and focusing on the big picture. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we feel we made great progress at Sebring that we will carry forward in the rest of our 2024 journey. Making our first IMSA race has been a great challenge, as this project is still very new, but here and in Qatar we proved that as a team, we can make a difference. Our focus now shifts to our home race at Imola, but we are leaving the USA extremely motivated and we cannot wait to be back on track.”
Next up for the Iron Lynx Lamborghini collaboration is the 6 Hours of Imola; a race on home soil.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Muller and Mikken Jensen’s No. 93 Peugeot had a seemingly successful race that was sure to see them on the podium. However, disaster struck when the car ran out of fuel with 2 laps to go. Unfortunately today’s news was another blow for the team. Due to a breach of the technical regulations the No. 93 car has been disqualified from the race for multiple infractions. The key source of the infractions was the use of ERS below 150 km/h in an attempt to finish the race after the car had run out of fuel. The team was also cited for not returning to the pits after using MGU-K to complete the lap and not making it to parc ferme.
The official bulletin is below:
As a result the No. 93 falls to the bottom of the table. Before the decision the team had the following words:
Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis Motorsport Senior VP
“Everyone at Team Peugeot TotalEnergies had a very good race for the final outing of the PEUGEOT 9X8 in its 2023 version. We showed the potential of the car and the team really delivered a great performance. We were right in the mix. Unfortunately, there was a refueling problem at the last pit stop, something we still need to investigate, but it meant that Jean-Eric had to finish the race with the electric motor. We’ll take the positives from this race and focus on the next round. We’re looking forward to Imola and building on today’s performance in the 2024 version of the PEUGEOT 9X8.”
Nico Müller – PEUGEOT 9X8 #93
“It’s just unbelievable, to run out of fuel on the final lap, undoubtedly due to some issue during the last refueling pit stop. We have to analyze what happened. It’s a hard one to take, as we really deserved to finish second today. We wanted to secure a final good result for the 2023 PEUGEOT 9X8.”
It was Porsche day in Qatar for the Qatar 1812km as the manufacturer secured 4 podium finishes between the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes. Porsche Penske Motorsport led the effort in Hypercar with their No. 6 car taking the checkered flag and securing the first win of the season. Hertz Team JOTA finished in a hard fought second place as the No. 12 Porsche 963 has hovered in the top 5 all weekend. The team will be pleased with the result despites falling behind the No. 6 car by 32 seconds. The sister Porsche Penske car who led practice and qualifying earlier in the weekend finished P3 to give Porsche Penske a double podium in the season opener and the lead in the team standings.
Heartbreak for Peugeot, Lamborghini Clearly behind
As the clock ticked to the closing minutes it seems all but guaranteed that the No. 93 Peugeot would finish on the podium until disaster struck. The car ran out of fuel with just 2 laps to go. The team fell to P7 due to the failure. The sister car finished P17 in class.
Lamborghini Iron Lynx debuted the new SC63 Hypercar finishing P15 on the weekend. Given that the team has no race data on the car. One of the most important goals of the weekend was to finish the race. While they finished 5 laps behind the lead lap this weekend served as a data gathering opportunity to help them fine tune the car for the future rounds in WEC and IMSA. The SC63 will make its IMSA debut at the 12 hours of Sebring later this month.
Manthey PureRxcing Secures LMGT3 Win
Manthey PureRxcing raced its Porsche 911 GT3R LMGT3 to victory completing 299 laps and winning the LMGT3 class. There was only one other car on the in class lead lap; the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3. In third the No. 777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin finished 1 lap behind the leaders. MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi secured a top 5 finish in his WEC racing debut. The feat was an incredible achievement as Rossi started his quest to dominate in the car racing world as he has in the motorcycle racing world for years.
#91 MANTHEY EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring and Richard Lietz JEP/Motorsport ImagesFull Results From the Qatar 1812km
Porsche Penske solidified their place at the front in Hyperpole today after leading practice and qualifying thus far this weekend. The team repeated the result in qualifying The session was the first Hyperpole in the World Endurance Championship outside of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Matt Campbell finished ahead of the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid driven by former F1 driver Nyck De Vries. Third on the grid was the No.12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 piloted by Callum Ilott.
It appears that the BoP released for the Hypercar class did its job. The Toyota’s seemingly dominated in 2023 pulling easily away from the competition in terms of performance. Porsche appears to be making a challenge for the top spot. We will see how they fare come race time. Nyck De Vries had the following words on his P2 finish.
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7):
“I think we are all a little bit surprised by our performance. I am very happy to be up there at the front in our first qualifying of the season, especially after a tough week for everyone during the Prologue and then free practice. The whole team has worked really hard to find improvements and now we have to put it together for the race. Ten hours is a long race, so we need to be clean in our execution, but it is good to be starting from the front.”
To find out where you can watch the Qatar 1812km click here for local broadcast coverage.
Full Hyperpole Results
Day one of practice has conclude for the start of the Qatar 1812 km weekend. Porsche Penske Remain unmatched at the top of the tables after leading both practice sessions on day one. Kevin Estre drove his Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No.6 963 hypercar to set a sub 1:40 lap time a 1m39.990s lap. The feat meant Estre was the first drive ever to break the 90 second lap barrier. The No.6 car lead the second place finishers the No. 93 Peugeot by 0.782s. The Hertz Team JOTA No. 38 Porsche 963 finished FP2 third fastest.
Toyota Falling Behind?
In surprising fashion the pace of last years champions, Toyota Gazoo Racing seemed well off that of a team headed toward sure victory. Toyota Gazoo Racing dominated the hypercar class in 2023 and are looking to repeat that result in 2024. Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7) said “Everything went smoothly today but still we are not where we want to be. We are trying to find out how we can make the tires work on this track with our car, which is not easy. We have made progress and we are improving but the step forward today wasn’t as big as I hoped for. We will keep working to find more solutions and be ready for the race.” Toyota finished 8th and 13th in hypercar during FP2. The drivers also commented.
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7)
“It is hard to get a full picture of our position relative to the competition. Everyone is running different programs and we don’t know all the details, but it’s clear we have a steep challenge in front of us. We are continuing to understand more and hopefully we can put everything together in the best way for the race, but we still have a bit of work to do.”
Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8):
“Overall this has been a better day than the Prologue. We didn’t look great on one-lap pace but on long runs we were clearly better. I feel like we have made a step in the right direction and now we will work hard to improve further. The conditions in FP2 were completely different to the earlier session, a lot cooler in the night. The end of the race will be like that, so it was important to experience it.”
LMGT3
In LMGT3 the Vista AF Corsa No. 55 and No.54 cars topped the table in class ahead of the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4. The Ferraris were separated by 0.3s with the Team WRT No. 31 car behind by less than a tenth in third. The session was red flagged twice with the second ending the practice session early.
Full FP2 Results Are Below
The third free practice session is scheduled for 11am local time on Friday morning.
The World Endurance Championship (WEC) has released a revised schedule for the upcoming WEC prologue. There will be 4 sessions to choose from of which each team will get to participate in 3. The teams were given the option to participate in the opening session at Lusail International Circuit on Monday or the final session on Tuesday as their flexible choice. They must submit their decision to the organizers by Monday afternoon. The other two sessions are mandatory. The sessions chosen will result in 11 hours of track time for the teams as they start to shake down their cars ahead of the Qatar 1812km.
The flexibility in session schedule is a response due to the logistical issues some teams face getting their cars to the event.
The Full Provisional Prologue Schedule is Below
The FIA has extended television coverage in the United States to host all of the World Endurance Championship on Max. As motorsport grows in US markets the FIA has seen an increase in viewership over the past 5 years and is looking to piggyback on the success seen by IMSA and F1. Streaming will be available through Max’s B/R Sports Add-On where WEC will join a variety of other pro sport series.
The coverage will include both live and on demand options which will feature pre and post analysis of races. The first coverage will be available during FP3 in Qatar for the Qatar 1812 km race scheduled for 01March2024. You can find out more about Max and the B/R Sports add on here: Max B/R Sports Add on
Words from WEC CEO Frédéric Lequien
The WEC CEO Frédéric Lequien had the following comments regarding the expansion, “The USA is a huge market for the WEC and it is always an aim to make our sport as widely accessible as possible. Max, alongside our existing deal with MotorTrend, will help achieve this goal and hopefully we can attract fans to attend our race at COTA later this season to watch the action in person. With Corvette, Cadillac and a number of American drivers on our grid this year, plus our strong ties with IMSA, we are delighted that we could sign another solid broadcast deal in this region.”
2024 FIA WEC Calendar live on Max
February 24-25: Official Prologue (QAT)
March 2: Qatar Airways Qatar 1812Km (QAT)
April 21: 6 Hours of Imola (ITA)
May 11: TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL)
June 15-16: 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA)
July 14: Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo (BRA)
September 1: Lone Star Le Mans (USA)
September 15: 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN)
November 2: 8 Hours of Bahrain (BAH)
The World Endurance championship released a 63 car list of competitors for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the 63 car field 12 drivers returns as former champions to try to seize glory once again. The field includes 23 Hypercars, 16 LMP2 prototypes, and 23 LMGT3s. There also multiple reserves in the event some teams drop out before the race. The complete Entrant List can be found below:
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans has rarely seen a grid like this in over a hundred years. The world’s greatest carmakers will be in La Sarthe this June. I am grateful to our partners and teams for coming together to bring us another superb episode of motorsport history.”
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA President
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most iconic events in the history of motor sport and the traditional focal point of the FIA World Endurance Championship season. Last year, I had the pleasure of witnessing this fantastic race on the occasion of its centenary and I’m very much looking forward to this year’s edition, as we celebrate 120 years of the FIA. The entry list looks incredibly strong, with 23 Hypercars from 9 different manufacturers headlining the 62-car field and 23 LMGT3s promising an ultra-competitive battle in the GT ranks. Endurance racing is in a healthy state today and this entry list proves that the right regulatory approach will result in strong interest and competition.”
Richard Mille, FIA Endurance Commission President
“The announcement of the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is always a very special moment and this is very much the case this year. The entry is incredibly rich both in terms of numbers and quality. The figures in Hypercar and LMGT3 classes are simply staggering. I would argue that this is perhaps the strongest entry ever when it comes to competition for both the overall victory as well as for the honors among the GT cars. Having a strong LMP2 representation joining the fray will also give the fans something extra to follow and get excited about. We are set for another memorable edition, there is no question about that.”