Toyota arrived to Imola with its heavily updated GR010 Hybrid-and couldn’t have asked for a better debut. The Japanese team won the six-hour race ahead of the favored Ferrari.
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| Photo by FIAWEC |
The FIA World Endurance Championship season kicked off at Imola after the cancellation of the Qatar round, and fans didn’t miss out. The opening race attracted a record crowd of 92,175 spectators.
Ferrari #51 started from pole position after a strong qualifying performance and clearly set the pace during the first two hours of the race. Despite this, Toyota remained a constant threat.
The turning point came in the third hour, when both Ferrari and Toyota made their second pit stops. Toyota gained valuable time by only refueling, while Ferrari also changed two tires.
After that, the #8 Toyota took the lead. A Virtual Safety Car was later deployed after the Peugeot TotalEnergies #93 spun off at Tamburello. Toyota once again took advantage of the situation and pitted, this time changing all four tires. Ferrari followed, but only replaced the remaining two tires.
The #8 Toyota crew maintained the lead until the finish and secured victory. This marked a double milestone for the Japanese manufacturer — their 50th win in their 100th WEC race.
The reigning world champions, Ferrari, had to settle for second place at home, secured by the #51 crew.
Toyota underlined its successful debut with the updated car by also finishing third with the #7 crew.
And what about Genesis Magma Racing? This was the first-ever race for the Korean team. Their goal was clear-to gain as much experience as possible and complete the race without major issues. This was only partially achieved. The #17 crew finished 15th without problems, but the second car, #19, suffered technical issues early in the race and ultimately finished 29th overall, 21 laps behind the winning Toyota.
The LMGT3 class was won by Team WRT #69, followed by TF Sport #33 in second place and Manthey Racing in third.
The WEC now moves to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, where the next round will take place on May 9.