The FIA World Endurance Championship heads to Imola for its next round, a six-hour event around the narrow, twisting circuit in northern Italy.
Last time out in Qatar, Porsche took its first WEC victory with the 963, dominating the race and battling with Peugeot for much of the 10 hours, until the #93 Peugeot 9X8 ran out of fuel on the final lap of the race, surrendering second.
Imola, though, is a very different track to Qatar’s Losail International Circuit. Where Losail had many high speed corners, Imola has lower speed corners, and is significantly narrower than the much newer Qatar circuit.
Imola also has significant elevation change in the track layout, whereas Losail is flat with little gradient. Imola is bumpy, too, with big kerbs lining the track and relatively small — by modern standards — run offs, with the track surface lined by grass and gravel.
But what of the competition? Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters are close by in Maranello, so the Italian team will be keen to win its home race, to take only its second WEC win after Le Mans last year. Toyota, too, will be keen to be on the top step of the podium after being curiously off the pace in Qatar.
Indeed, both Ferrari and Toyota have been handed big weight breaks in the Balance of Performance, 29 kg less for Toyota and 34 kg for Ferrari.
Porsche, quickest all week in Qatar, may struggle more at Imola, as the 963 prefers a smoother track surface. Expect the German manufacturer to be near the top, though, as they look to continue their early season success both in WEC and in the parallel IMSA programme in the United States. The 963 will be the second-lightest car, with only the Cadillac V-Series.R weighing less. But the Porsche will also be the least powerful, and with the lowest maximum stint energy, which may cause the team headaches in the race.
With the narrow track and traditional run offs, we can expect to see more full course yellows and safety cars than in Qatar, where there were just two brief full course yellows, both to collect debris. This will likely cause the strategy for the teams to be up in the air and unpredictable.
Rain, too, may come into play, with Imola having hosted its fair share of wet races over the years.
Much of the fan interest may be focused on Peugeot and the new version of the 9X8. The new car now has a rear wing, to add to the rear downforce that’s generated by the floor and diffuser.
However, possibly more important than the rear wing is the completely reworked suspension. The 9X8 now boasts 29/34 tyres, meaning it has 29-inch tyres at the front and 34-inch tyres at the back, compared to the ‘old’ version of the car with 31-inch tyres all round. This means the car will have, Peugeot hopes, improved traction at the rear, especially through slower corners, as it will have more rubber on the track.
Cadillac will hope to bounce back in Imola after being disqualified for unwittingly running non-homologated parts in Qatar, something even the ACO and FIA admitted wouldn’t have had a performance impact, with the difference between the homologated and non-homologated parts so small it didn’t get immediately picked up on. Regardless, the American team will be hoping for more luck at Imola after a good showing performance-wise in Qatar.
Finally, the new-for-2024 manufacturers — Alpine, Lamborghini, BMW and Isotta Fraschini — will be keen to continue their learning about their new cars. Alpine finished in the points in Qatar, the only new team to do so, so the French team will want to maintain that run of success. Lamborghini and BMW, meanwhile, will be looking to get their first points on the board, lest they drop further behind Alpine and the rest of their competition.
Isotta Fraschini’s maiden showing in Qatar was decent, but they didn’t finish and racked up penalties as Duqueine, the team running the car, familiarised themselves with WEC rules. The Italian-French team will surely be aiming to finish the race in Imola.
Over in LMGT3, it’s as good as anyone’s guess who’ll come out on top. The Manthey Pxre Racing Porsche was quick in Qatar, as were the two Aston Martins. Alex Malykhin, Yasser Shahin and Klaus Bachler, all new to the WEC, were stupendous as they took the #92 Porsche 911 GT3R to victory in the new LMGT3 class, but the competition were hot on their heels, with the Heart of Racing Aston Martin team under 5 seconds back at the flag.
Another WEC debutant was also impressive at Qatar, one Valentino Rossi. The motorcycling legend, with his attention now turned to cars, seems to get better every year but the WEC is a new challenge.
The new Ford Mustang GT3s are still struggling with their rear boot lids detaching themselves during races, reputedly an aerodynamic problem. Proton, the team running the Fords in WEC competition, will be hoping they can do better than ninth in Qatar.
And new team Akkodis ASP, running the Lexus RC F GT3s, will be hoping for more in Imola, with one car retiring in Qatar and the other the last of the finishers. The same probably applies to the United Autosports McLaren, both of which finished towards the back of the field in the Middle East season opener.
The 6 Hours of Imola takes place on Sunday 21st April, and begins at 1pm local time.
