Ludo van Denderen is a motorsport journalist at GPblog, specializing in Formula 1 and international racing series.
Ferrari will start its home race in the World Endurance Championship from pole position. In Imola, Antonio Giovinazzi sparked huge cheers by snatching first place from Ryo Hirakawa’s Toyota in the final second.
All eyes in Italy are on Imola this weekend, where the WEC season opener is taking place. In front of thousands of Italians, the day could hardly have gone better, with pole for Giovinazzi after digging deep. Moments earlier, Haas F1 reserve driver Hirakawa had surprisingly put his Toyota at the top of the timesheets, pushing the #51 Ferrari back.
Antonio Fuoco completed the top three. Former F1 driver Nyck de Vries finished seventh in the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing hypercar. Max Verstappen's teammate for the 24h Nurburgring, Jules Gounon, failed to make it through to the final qualifying session in the Alpine.
Photo: WEC
First race of the season
ADVERTISEMENT
Imola hosts the first endurance race of the season, after the Bahrain round was moved due to the ongoing Middle East conflict. On Sunday, the drivers and their teams will race for six hours to be the first to cross the line.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli will also be there. Not as a driver, but the Mercedes F1 driver will get the race underway by waving the green flag.
Don’t miss GPblog in Google
Mark us as a preferred source and our articles will appear more often at the top of Top Stories.
Add as a preferred / source on Google
