After four hours of racing for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Imola, Kamui Kobayashi held the lead for the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
The opening two hours featured racing action, Lap 1 dramas, and the employment of different strategies such as underfueling slightly or opting not to change to fresh tyres under the Italian sun.
Most importantly, the race narrative began to settle down as teams delved into the unknown, with only their data from simulations and free practice to base their strategy on.
Following the pit stops in Hypercar, many were still extending their time on used tyres with only the #12 Isotta Fraschini of Carl Bennett having switched to fresh tyres, although he encountered a couple of off-track excursions as he came to terms with fresh but cold rubber.
Ferrari maintained their 1-2 at the front with #51 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi and #50 499P of Nicklas Nielsen still both behind the wheel from the start.
The #50 driver on triple-stinted tyres kept up reasonable pace on the #7 Toyota GR010 driver Nyck de Vries, who was running in third and setting quick and consistent lap times.
Furthermore, there was a threat of rain which loomed although it did not hamper the gripping racing taking place at the front of the field between Ferrari and the #7 Toyota.
A cunning moment saw Nyck de Vries react quickly to the end of a FCY period, declared when Bennett hit the wall at the Variante Alta after jumping from the kerb and was pulled out to continue their race.
Miguel Molina, whilst nursing thoroughly used tyres, was not able to stop de Vries’ quick reactions and so the #7 made it past the #50 Ferrari who was initially tasked to fend off the Toyota with Calado up at the front.
There was a tense moment when de Vries was under investigation for overtaking before a Virtual Safety Car period was deployed with the #12 JOTA Porsche 963 of Callum Ilott off at the final corner on his own, after losing his Hypercar over a bump.
As it became a Safety Car, the rain increased in presence in the final sector, prompting Kobayashi to pit the #7 in reaction to the rain.
Ferrari, however, opted to stay out on their slicks owing to the locality of the rain, with the slick tyre bearable during the other parts of the circuit.
Eventually, the Ferraris gave in to pit for wet tyres which gave the #7 Toyota the lead just after the four-hour mark.
Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche Penske stood in second position, followed by the other #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley in third.
Fourth position was held by Sheldon van der Linde and his #20 BMW WRT M Hybrid V8, with Matt Campbell rounding off the top-five in the #5 Porsche Penske machine.
At the start of the third racing hour in LMGT3, an exciting fight for P2 emerged between the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 Bronze-rated driver François Heriau impressively keeping up the pace ahead of the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 of Valentino Rossi.
Unfortunately for Proton Competition’s #88 Ford Mustang, more issues arose when their floor hung off again thus prompting a pit stop before the floor was pulled off by a mechanic and the LMGT3 car was pushed into the garage.
United Autosports were running swimmingly in P9 (#59 Nico Costa) and P10 (#95 of Nico Pino) as they fought for the final points positions.
The Rossi-Mann fight continued until Mann made a move on the outside into the Variante Tamburello in his #55 Ferrari.
Amidst the rain’s emergence, the LMGT3 cars were hanging on with their Goodyear slicks able to deal with the local rain.
WRT’s BMWs fought intensely for second and third position in the category, as the #46 of Maxime Martin got ahead of the #31 of Augusto Farfus.
Joel Sturm’s #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3.R held the LMGT3 lead in front of the two WRTs, followed by Simon Mann’s #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 and the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Daniel Mancinelli rounding off the top-five.
