The 2024 6 Hours of Imola was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 21 April 2024, as the second of eight rounds of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the second running of the event, and the first running of the event as part of the World Endurance Championship.
The event was announced on 9 June 2023, during the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend. The Italian round of the World Endurance Championship was held at Monza in July between 2021 and 2023. To accommodate an additional non-European race, the Italian round was moved from July to April. Since the Monza circuit is currently undergoing upgrade works, the round was moved from Monza to Imola. [1]
Prior to the race, Peugeot unveiled their updated Peugeot 9X8, including a rear wing and a change in tire size: the front tires having a diameter of 29 centimeters, and the rear tires having a diameter of 34 centimeters, aligning with the rest of the Hypercar field. [2]
The entry list was revealed on 2 April 2024, with 19 entries in the Hypercar category, and 18 entries in the LMGT3 category. In Hypercar, the No. 2 Cadillac Racing entry dropped from three to two drivers: Sébastien Bourdais did not drive for the team in Imola. Furthermore, Ferdinand Habsburg was replaced by Jules Gounon in the No. 35 Alpine Endurance Team entry, since the former was still recovering from an injury. [3] All other entered teams and drivers stayed the same as in Qatar. [4] [5]
Date | Time (local: CEST) | Event |
---|---|---|
Friday, 19 April | 12:00 | Free Practice 1 |
17:15 | Free Practice 2 | |
Saturday, 20 April | 11:10 | Free Practice 3 |
14:45 | Qualifying - LMGT3 | |
15:05 | Hyperpole - LMGT3 | |
15:25 | Qualifying - Hypercar | |
15:45 | Hyperpole - Hypercar | |
Sunday, 21 April | 13:00 | Race |
Source: [6] |
There are three practice sessions scheduled to be held preceding the start of the race on Sunday: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The sessions on Friday afternoon and Friday evening lasted 90 minutes, and the final session on Saturday morning lasted for 60 minutes. [6]
The first practice session took place at 12:00 CEST on Friday. Yifei Ye was quickest in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, with a lap time of 1:31.347. Antonio Fuoco ended up second fastest in the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse entry, with Mikkel Jensen in the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies entry in third. [7] LMGT3 was led by Daniel Juncadella in the No. 82 TF Sport Corvette, lapping the circuit in 1 minute and 42.113 seconds, with team mate Charlie Eastwood in the No. 81 Corvette second, 0.606s behind. Davide Rigon was third-quickest in the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, 0.858s slower than Juncadella. [8] The session saw one red flag, after Jean-Éric Vergne's No. 93 Peugeot suddenly stopped on-track. [9]
Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hypercar | 83 | AF Corse | Yifei Ye | 1:31.347 | |
LMGT3 | 82 | TF Sport | Daniel Juncadella | 1:42.113 | |
Source: [10] [11] | |||||
The second practice session took place at 17:15 CEST on Friday. Fuoco was quickest in the No. 50 Ferrari with a lap time of 1:30.957. Kévin Estre was second in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry, 0.342s behind. Robert Shwartzman ended up third in the No. 83 Ferrari. [12] Eastwood was quickest in LMGT3 in the No. 81 Corvette, with a lap of 1:41.986, which was 0.187s faster than Alessio Rovera's lap in the No. 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari. Juncadella was third-quickest in the No. 82 Corvette. [13]
Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hypercar | 50 | Ferrari AF Corse | Antonio Fuoco | 1:30.957 | |
LMGT3 | 81 | TF Sport | Charlie Eastwood | 1:41.986 | |
Source: [14] [15] | |||||
The third and final practice session took place at 11:10 CEST on Saturday. Fuoco was once again quickest in the No. 50 Ferrari, with a lap of 1:31.238. He was 0.034s quicker than Dries Vanthoor in the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT entry, with team-mate René Rast in the No. 20 BMW a further 0.271s behind. [16] In LMGT3, Marco Sørensen was quickest in the No. 777 D'station Racing Aston Martin, lapping the track in 1 minute and 42.474 seconds. He was half a second quicker than Daniel Mancinelli in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, with Augusto Farfus in the No. 31 Team WRT BMW in third. [17] The session saw one stoppage, when Paul di Resta beached his No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies entry in the gravel at turn 18. [17]
Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hypercar | 50 | Ferrari AF Corse | Antonio Fuoco | 1:31.238 | |
LMGT3 | 777 | D'station Racing | Marco Sørensen | 1:42.474 | |
Source: [18] [19] | |||||
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.
Pos | Class | No. | Entrant | Qualifying | Hyperpole | Grid |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hypercar | 50 | Ferrari AF Corse | 1:30.196 | 1:29.466 | 1 |
2 | Hypercar | 83 | AF Corse | 1:30.710 | 1:29.885 | 2 |
3 | Hypercar | 51 | Ferrari AF Corse | 1:30.736 | 1:29.953 | 3 |
4 | Hypercar | 6 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | 1:31.190 | 1:30.101 | 4 |
5 | Hypercar | 5 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | 1:30.221 | 1:30.385 | 5 |
6 | Hypercar | 7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1:30.636 | 1:30.410 | 6 |
7 | Hypercar | 20 | BMW M Team WRT | 1:30.950 | 1:30.600 | 7 |
8 | Hypercar | 8 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1:30.497 | 1:30.652 | 8 |
9 | Hypercar | 12 | Hertz Team Jota | 1:30.992 | 1:30.656 | 9 |
10 | Hypercar | 99 | Proton Competition | 1:30.929 | 1:30.692 | 10 |
11 | Hypercar | 38 | Hertz Team Jota | 1:31.322 | 11 | |
12 | Hypercar | 2 | Cadillac Racing | 1:31.397 | 12 | |
13 | Hypercar | 15 | BMW M Team WRT | 1:31.549 | 13 | |
14 | Hypercar | 94 | Peugeot TotalEnergies | 1:31.651 | 14 | |
15 | Hypercar | 93 | Peugeot TotalEnergies | 1:31.748 | 15 | |
16 | Hypercar | 63 | Lamborghini Iron Lynx | 1:31.862 | 16 | |
17 | Hypercar | 35 | Alpine Endurance Team | 1:31.980 | 17 | |
18 | Hypercar | 36 | Alpine Endurance Team | 1:32.054 | 18 | |
19 | Hypercar | 11 | Isotta Fraschini | 1:33.575 | 19 | |
20 | LMGT3 | 92 | Manthey PureRxcing | 1:42.734 | 1:42.365 | 20 |
21 | LMGT3 | 27 | Heart of Racing Team | 1:43.452 | 1:43.058 | 21 |
22 | LMGT3 | 46 | Team WRT | 1:43.241 | 1:43.099 | 22 |
23 | LMGT3 | 31 | Team WRT | 1:43.281 | 1:43.105 | 23 |
24 | LMGT3 | 85 | Iron Dames | 1:42.924 | 1:43.151 | 24 |
25 | LMGT3 | 88 | Proton Competition | 1:43.416 | 1:43.229 | 25 |
26 | LMGT3 | 91 | Manthey EMA | 1:43.134 | 1:43.399 | 26 |
27 | LMGT3 | 55 | Vista AF Corse | 1:43.198 | 1:43.523 | 27 |
28 | LMGT3 | 54 | Vista AF Corse | 1:43.225 | 1:43.650 | 28 |
29 | LMGT3 | 59 | United Autosports | 1:43.882 | 1:43.835 | 29 |
30 | LMGT3 | 81 | TF Sport | 1:43.897 | 30 | |
31 | LMGT3 | 777 | D'station Racing | 1:43.947 | 31 | |
32 | LMGT3 | 82 | TF Sport | 1:44.108 | 32 | |
33 | LMGT3 | 77 | Proton Competition | 1:44.118 | 33 | |
34 | LMGT3 | 95 | United Autosports | 1:44.291 | 34 | |
35 | LMGT3 | 78 | Akkodis ASP Team | 1:44.347 | 35 | |
36 | LMGT3 | 60 | Iron Lynx | 1:46.254 | 36 | |
37 | LMGT3 | 87 | Akkodis ASP Team | No time [N 1] | 37 | |
Source: [21] [22] |
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 143 laps. Class winners are in bold and ‡.
Alessandro Pier Guidi is a racing driver from Italy. A Ferrari factory driver since 2017, he won the LMGTE Pro FIA World Endurance Championship in 2017, 2021 and 2022, the 2019 and 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Pro class, and claimed the 24 Hours of Spa in 2021, as well as taking an overall win at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans along with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi.
The 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the third season of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series, co-organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars from four ACO categories. World Championship titles were awarded for Le Mans Prototypes drivers and for LMP1 manufacturers, and several World Endurance Cups and Endurance Trophies were also awarded. The eight race series began in April at the Silverstone Circuit and concluded in November at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.
Matthieu Vaxivière is a French racing driver from Limoges, who currently drives for Alpine in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The 2015 European Le Mans Series season was the twelfth season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) European Le Mans Series. The five-event season began at Silverstone Circuit, in conjunction with the FIA World Endurance Championship, on 11 April and finished at Autódromo do Estoril on 18 October.
Gustavo Soiblemann Menezes is an American-Brazilian racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup was the eighth season of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The season began on 22 April at Monza and ended on 30 September in Barcelona. The season featured five rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of three hours besides the 24 Hours of Spa and the 1000 km Paul Ricard events.
Nicklas Nielsen is a professional Ferrari GT factory racing driver from Denmark.
The 2019 4 Hours of Shanghai was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 10 November 2019, as the third round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship. This was the inaugural running of the race, in a four-hour format, having previously been run as the 6 Hours of Shanghai. The race was won overall by Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes, and Norman Nato, in the #1 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13, with the race being the first win on the road for a non hybrid LMP1 since the first ever WEC race, the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring.
The 2021 12 Hours of Sebring was an endurance sports car race held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 17 to 20 March 2021. It was the second round of both the 2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup. Mazda Motorsports entered as the defending overall winners of the 12-hour event.
The 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans was a 24-hour automobile endurance event that was held in front of 244,200 spectators on 11 and 12 June 2022 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France for Le Mans Hypercar (Hypercar), Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars that were entered by teams of three drivers each. It was the 90th edition of the event organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and the third round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship. A test day was held the week before the race on 5 June.
Alessio Rovera is an Italian racing driver. He is a Ferrari factory driver and currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship with AF Corse.
Doriane Pin is a French racing driver who is part of the Iron Dames programme and the Mercedes Junior Team. She currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMGT3 category, as well as racing in F1 Academy with Prema Racing. Additionally, Pin will contest races in the Formula Regional European Championship.
The 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship was the eleventh season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series was open to prototype and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into three categories. World Championship titles were awarded to the leading drivers in both the prototype and grand tourer divisions and to the leading manufacturer in prototype division.
Malthe Jakobsen is a Danish racing driver. He is the 2022 European Le Mans Series champion in the LMP3 class with Cool Racing.
The 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans, also known as the Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans, was an automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each racing Prototype and Grand Touring cars held from 10 to 11 June 2023 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, in front of 325,000 spectators. It was the 91st edition of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's 24-hour race, its centenary anniversary edition and the fourth round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The week before the event, on 4 June, there was a test day.
The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship is the twelfth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series will be open to Hypercars and LMGT3 racing cars.
The 2024 24 Hours of Daytona was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida on January 27–28, 2024. The event was the 62nd running of the 24 Hours of Daytona since its inception in 1962, and the first of 11 races across multiple classes in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the first of five rounds in the 2024 Michelin Endurance Cup. The 2024 race was shortened due to an officiating error causing the race to end 1 minute 35.277 seconds short of the scheduled 24 hours.
The 2024 Qatar 1812 km was an endurance sportscar racing event, held on 2 March 2024, as the first of eight rounds of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the inaugural running of the event.
The 2024 12 Hours of Sebring was an endurance sports car race being held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida, scheduled from 13 to 16 March 2024. It was the second round of both the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup.
The 2024 4 Hours of Barcelona was an endurance sportscar racing event held between 12 and 14 April 2024, as the first round of 2024 European Le Mans Series season.