Ferrari tightens WEC grip, BMW second from Alpine
Ferrari AF Corse has tightened its grip on the 2025 World Endurance Championship. James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi drove their number 51 499P to a hugely popular and thrilling Imola 6 Hour in its back yard in Italy on Sunday. Manthey Porsche meantime bounced back to take GT3 honours.
Its home victory was also Ferrari’s second of two in the two rounds of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship over Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde’s number 20 WRT BMW Hybrid V8 (below), and Alpine trio Frederic Makowiecki, Jules Gounon and Mick Schumacher.
IMOLA WAS Equal Best WEC Result for BMW, Alpine
The yellow 83 Ferrari trio Hanson, Ye and Kubica ended fourth from the best of the Gazoo Racing Toyota, the 8 Hartley Hirakawa Buemi car, which served a drive-through penalty for speeding under yellow flags.
BMW’s second 20 Magnussen Marciello Vanthoor entry completed the Hypercar top six ahead of the 8 Conway de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi. The Campbell Vanthoor Estre Penske Porsche 963 followed ahead of the Peugeot and Cadillac
It was a tactical victory for Ferrari. The winning red 51 Ferrari dominated early on ahead of the yellow 499 and Kevin Magnussen in the 15 BMW until the first safety car was dispatched before half distance.
Toyota Fifth, Porsche Sixth in WEC Hypercar
Another full, and two more virtual safety cars saw different crews running different plans as the race progressed. That left Ferrari entrenched in a battle of wits with BMW, Alpine (above), Toyota and Porsche.
The second placed BMW came back from damaging its bodywork after bashing with the 7 Toyota. The sister red 50 Ferrari Nielsen Molina Fuoco Ferrari’s comeback charge from last on the grid ended with damage after clashing with the 8 Toyota. Both BMW and Alpine’s results match their best WEC outcomes so far.
Factory drivers, Richard Lietz’s 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 held BMW driver Kelvin van der Linde’s 46 M4 GT3 Evo off to take LMGT3 honours. Letiz denied van der Linde and teammate Valentino Rossi their maiden WEC wins.
Porsche Denies Rossi, van der Linde GT Win
Rossi was looking good to add to add the win to his maiden WEC pole position. Until he contact with Simon Mann’s 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 in their fight for the lead. Rossi’s drive-through penalty cost him the team the win. They ended second from Lexus trio Robin, Gehrsitz and Masson.