Antonio Fuoco he won the six-hour Hyperpole in Imola, the second race of the WEC championship of the season. The very fast standard bearer of the Ferrari 499P achieved a monstrous lap in 1:29.466. Pole will be of fundamental importance for tomorrow's race on a track where overtaking will not be easy at all. Making the day even sweeter for the Maranello company are the equally excellent performances of the other two Ferrari 499Ps second with Shwartzman at the wheel of the yellow Ferrari of the AF Corse team. Third Alessandro Pier Guidi who, like his teammates, will be able to aspire to victory in the race, given the speed shown by the Maranello Hypercars throughout the testing weekend.
The chronicle of the Hypercar class qualification
It was feared that the rain could complicate qualifying, but at the start of the first qualifying phase of the Hypercar class the sun illuminates the Imola track which is in ideal conditions, with the asphalt temperature approaching thirty degrees. A detail that is not negligible considering that the cars do not have the possibility of using pre-heated tires by regulation. Antonio Fuoco in the #50 and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 are called to fight for pole for Ferrari. Alex Shwartzman is behind the wheel of the third Ferrari of the AF Corse team.
The Ferraris seem very fast but they have to pay attention to the track limits, exceeding which costs the cancellation of excellent times for Fuoco and Shwartzman. Antonio still manages to gain the lead in the standings when, just under two minutes from the end, the red flag is shown due to a spin on Rast's BMW which turns while exiting the Piratella. The riders must therefore return to the track to compete for access to the Hyperpole, having only time for one lap.
No problems for the three Ferraris who move on to the final qualifying phase with Fuoco leading the timesheets. The official Toyotas and Porsches pass alongside them. Disappointing performance for Peugeot and Alpine, never in a position to aim for the top ten. Difficulties also for the highly anticipated Lamborghini SC63, which seemed to be in difficulty since the morning free practice and was unable to do better than sixteenth position.
We therefore enter the Hyperpole phase with drivers who mount new tires to compete for pole which on a circuit where overtaking is particularly difficult has a very important value. The sun disappears behind the clouds and some drivers begin to zigzag to speed up the warming of the tires. The two Toyotas break the deadlock and occupy the first two positions in the standings with Hartley and Kobayashi, but two minutes from the end the Ferraris arrive and confirm the good things shown in the free practice sessions, occupying the first three positions with an exceptional time by Fuoco, who dropped below the 1:30 barrier, printing an excellent 1:29.466.
Second was Shwartzman's excellent yellow Ferrari, ahead of third place by a consistent Pier Guidi. All three of the Prancing Horse's cars clocked under one minute and thirty minutes, the only ones to do so. Porsche and Toyota therefore have to settle for positions behind Ferrari with Kevin Estre the only one to come close to Pier Guidi's time. All the opponents of the Maranello cars seem to be trailing with gaps of more than nine tenths.
The chronicle of the LMGT3 class qualification
In the GT class, access to the Hyperpole is very tight with ten drivers within less than a second. Standing out in the first qualifying phase is the Alex Malykhin's Porsche 911. Behind him, an excellent Sara Bovy on a Lamborghini and Yasser Shahin also on a Porsche earned access to the Hyperpole. The two Ferrari 296s of the AF Corse team and the BMW M4s of the WRT team also qualify for the final phase.
The cars with brakes and tires still warm thus move on to face the ten minutes of Hyperpole with the sun finally peeking out and increasing the temperature of the asphalt on the track. He's still the winner Alex Malykhin of the Purexracing team who won the Hyperpole with a time of 1:42.365 followed by Ian James on Aston Martin Vantage. Third Ahmad Al Harthy in the BMW M4, Valentino Rossi's teammate. completing the all-BMW second row is Darren Leung. The two AF Corse Ferraris were decidedly further behind in eighth and ninth position, over a minute behind the poleman.
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