The sun is shining on Imola for now (but clouds are threateningly approaching), where many spectators have arrived to enjoy an interesting 6 Hours, with the Ferraris having set the pace in this second seasonal event of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
At the start there were immediate shivers due to a multiple collision triggered by Matthieu Vaxivière, who with the Alpine #36 arrived too fast at the 'Tamburello' braking point causing a collision involving the BMW #15, the Peugeots and also Jean-Luc's Isotta Fraschini. Karl Vernay, unable to avoid the collision on the A424 and then continue with a piece of the French LMDh stuck in the nose.
On the straight there was also chaos among the LMGT3s: Yasser Shahin in the Porsche #91 of Manthey EMA hit Sarah Bovy's Lamborghini #85 head-on, causing a torque sensor failure which the Iron Dames' pits attempted to resolve, but sent back to the track the pink Huracan last. Subsequently the car stopped due to electronic problems.
The commissioners imposed a 1' Stop&Go on both Vaxivière and Shahin for the accidents. Giorgio Roda was also unlucky, forced to stop with the damaged diffuser on his #88 Ford Mustang.
In the first hour the #50 and #51 Ferraris driven by Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Giovinazzi set the pace, followed by the #83 of Robert Kubica (AF Corse) and with Porsche and Toyota fighting each other, while the Cadillac fell behind.
In addition to the Safety Car which was immediately sent into action for 3 laps after the start, a pair of Full Course Yellows neutralized the situation, first to allow the removal of debris and then to pull Thomas Flohr's Ferrari #54 out of the gravel at 'Tambourine'.
At the first stop, however, the left rear was changed on the #50 and this gave the 499P #51 and #83 the opportunity to gain two positions. But the Porsche-Toyota duo carried out a shorter refueling to manage to jump in front of Nielsen and Kubica, with the latter among other things penalized with a Drive-Through for not having respected the procedures in the FCY phase.
Giovinazzi then continued as leader gaining seconds on the Porsche #6 and the Toyota #7, Nielsen instead regained fourth place by overtaking the Porsche #5 of Frédéric Makowiecki taking advantage of a moment of chaos in the lapping, followed by the excellent René Rast in the BMW #20, which in turn is keeping behind the Toyota #8.
Jota's Porsche #12 and #38 are in eighth and tenth position, divided by Kubica's 499P, Mirko Bortolotti on the Lamborghini SC63 is aiming for the Top10, the Peugeot #93 had gearbox problems at a certain point, but with a reset it is managed to restart and is now 12th with the Cadillac, Alpine #35 and Isotta Fraschini behind her.
In the LMGT3 Class, an excellent performance so far for the Porsche #92 of Manthey Pure Rxcing driven by poleman Alex Malykhin, but Ahmad Al Harthy is also doing very well with the BMW #46 of Team WRT which will then pass to Valentino Rossi.
François Heriau was also consistent at the wheel of the Ferrari #55 of AF Corse, author of a nice overtaking on the BMW #31 of WRT, momentarily taking away the podium, the Aston Martin #27 of Heart Of Racing occupies fifth place ahead of the Corvettes of TF Sport, sixth and eighth with the #95 United Autosports McLaren in the middle.
The Top10 also includes the Lexus #78 of Akkodis-ASP and the Aston Martin #777 of D'Station Racing.
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