Winners and losers from another Ferrari WEC romp

After an Imola World Endurance Championship race that was more eventful than expected due to mistakes and interruptions, Ferrari secured its second victory in as many races at the start of 2025, this time thanks to the #51 499P driven by James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

But the Italian manufacturer was not the only big winner, with a couple of welcome podium finishes - as well as a pair of manufacturers who were particularly disappointed on Sunday evening.

Winner: Ferrari

Ferrari's second consecutive WEC victory was its first at home in the WEC or its predecessor series since the 1973 Monza 1000 km, won by Brian Redman and Jacky Ickx in the 312 PB.

It's simple: the 499P came away with the best laptimes in FP1, FP3, qualifying and hyperpole, as well as victory, the fastest lap, the best average speeds, the best top speed and the three best sector times.

"It was a long race, but we were well aware of the car's potential and made no mistakes, neither in terms of strategy nor tyre management," explained Antonio Giovinazzi. The Scuderia's Formula 1 reserve driver and his team-mates claimed their second WEC victory in Hypercar, the first after the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours.

"After our Qatar 1-2-3, today reaffirmed how effective our winter development work has been," added head of endurance and Corse Clienti Antonello Coletta.

But Ferrari can only be half-satisfied with its home weekend, as a 1-2-3 was expected. "We'd obviously hoped for stronger results with the other two cars, but for different reasons, we couldn't achieve what we'd targeted," Coletta regreted.

Still, hats off to the #51 car, which had a flawless weekend. This victory makes up for the disappointment of 2024, when Ferrari was on course for a 1-2-3 before completely miscalculating its strategy in the rain.

After two races, the three Ferrari line-ups are in the top three places in the drivers' standings and Ferrari leads the manufacturers' standings. Who said anything about domination?

Imola 6 Hours result

1 Calado / Giovinazzi / Pier Guidi (Ferrari)
2 Frijns / Rast / S. van der Linde (BMW) +8.490s
3 Schumacher / Makowiecki / Gounon (Alpine) +12.450s
4 Kubica / Hanson / Ye (Ferrari) +20.597s
5 Buemi / Hartley / Hirakawa (Toyota) +23.210s
6 D Vanthoor / Marciello / Magnussen (BMW) +25.516s
7 Conway / Kobayashi / De Vries (Toyota), +31.478s
8 Estre / L Vanthoor / Campbell (Porsche) +41.280s
9 Di Resta / Jensen / Vergne (Peugeot) +50.904s
10 Lynn / Nato / Stevens (Cadillac) +53.300s

Loser: Toyota

Toyota tried everything, even a daring strategy at the last restart, deciding to bring forward its penultimate pit stop to benefit from clean air. This choice was also adopted by the #50 Ferrari, leading to a duel between Antonio Fuoco and Sébastien Buemi.

"It's impossible or very difficult to overtake on this track," explained technical director David Floury. "You have to find ways to make your way up. With the weight and power we have, for raceability, it's even more difficult."

The #8 Toyota's crossing of the gravels following contact with the #50 Ferrari cost Buemi between three and four seconds. Finally, he finished fifth, 2.6s off fourth place. But according to Floury, it was difficult to hope for much better.

"We were a bit unfortunate with the full course yellow because we had to make an emergency stop with car #7, which cost us a lot of track positions, which is a bit of a pain," he explained. "And then we had this FCY infringement with Brendon [Hartley] as well, which cost us a lot. So it wasn't a 100% clean race. But at the end of the day, in any case, we could have achieved a bit more, but not much more."

After two races, Toyota is 39 points behind Ferrari, which is already assured of heading into the Le Mans 24 Hours at the top of the manufacturers' standings. "Ferrari was in a class of its own," Floury concluded. "It's been the same in Qatar.

"There is a very high risk that this will continue for much of the year and that the title will be decided by mid-season. So for sure there's a lot of frustration. Last year we were fighting for the championship with Porsche, and this year we are both fighting between P6 and P14, and the cars are the same, the tyres are the same, the teams are the same, the drivers are the same..."

Make of that what you will...

Winner: BMW

On the operational side, Team WRT was as brilliant at Imola as its BMW operating counterpart RLL was disappointing at Long Beach a week earlier. As in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, the M Hybrid V8 is performing better and better, thanks in part to a change of brake suppliers during the winter. It's now up to the racing team to perform at the same level.

This was the case in Italy, which allowed the #20 car to finish second despite a rear end change following a collision.

"If you had told me yesterday that we would finish second, I wouldn't have believed you," head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos admitted. "I'm very happy tonight with this second place." And with good reason, as everyone knew that the 499P was untouchable.

By opting for two short final stints after the last restart rather than one long and one very short, the #20 car driven by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast managed to secure a place on the podium.

As the #15 finished fourth, BMW was the most successful manufacturer in Italy with 28 points. It is now second behind Ferrari in the overall standings.

Loser: Porsche

Admittedly, when comparing last year's Balance of Performance at Imola with the one of this year, we did not expect Porsche to be in contention for the podium. Yet that was the case during the second part of the race, mainly due to an early tyre change, which was 'free' as it was made before the first safety car.

That allowed the #6 car to gain several track positions - but the 963s then fell down the standings.

"We're not happy with eighth and 11th," analysed Thomas Laudenbach. "The team fought hard and did a great job. We now need to step back and take a closer look at everything. The performance differences between the various Hypercars give us pause for thought!"

The Porsche Motorsport vice-president is obviously referring to the BoP, which competitors are prohibited from discussing, as stipulated in Article 6.2.1 of the WEC sporting regulations.

"A disappointing day. We didn't have enough pace to challenge the leaders," outlined Jonathan Diuguid Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director. "The #6 crew followed a good strategy and even led the race for a while, but they couldn't hold on to the front spot to the flag."

But even so, despite an unfavourable BoP, albeit much better than in Qatar, we did not expect to see Porsche in such difficulty, given that it has won three out of three races in IMSA.

Winner: Alpine

After a tough start, with a collision between the two cars that could have been avoided on the first lap, Alpine managed to get back to secure a second podium finish in the WEC thanks to the #36 car of Mick Schumacher, Frédéric Makowiecki and Jules Gounon.

"When the start of the race doesn't go as you'd hoped, you allow yourself to try things," explained team principal Philippe Sinault. "So we decided to put the soft tyres on earlier than planned and earlier than the competition. For the rest, it was the strategy that made the difference.”

"Our strategy was key, with a little help from a few incidents out front," Schumacher added. "We managed to pull off something we didn't believe quite possible at the start and we can be proud of our progress so far. Let's keep working hard to build on this momentum at Spa and Le Mans."

Between a penalty and stubborn rear lights that led to a rear block change, the #35 car did not have a successful race. But after the first two races, Alpine is fourth ahead of Porsche. "And yet we didn't have a perfect race," said Makowiecki. "When we put it all together, you can count on us..."

Loser: Cadillac

Perhaps we misjudged the difficulty of this Jota-Cadillac mission, a bit like the BMW/WRT partnership last year. But that's underestimating the challenge of discovering a new car for a racing team, however talented, as well as the collaboration with a major manufacturer.

When we told Will Stevens that we expected better from the Cadillac Team Jota at Imola, he replied: "Really? From the free practice sessions, we knew we weren't going to be in contention."

"We just struggled for pace the whole race," he added. "On our side, even on what's a tough day, we still scored some points, which on days like today you need to try and score what you can, at least we got that. We need to make improvements before Spa, which should suit us more than this track."

It is true that in the best 60% laps, the best of the two V-Series.R cars was 0.735s behind the #51 Ferrari and was even beaten by the best Peugeot. Cadillac was also the only team to complain about tyre degradation.

In addition, both cars were handed drivethrough penalties, losing valuable track positions, which did not help them in their quest for a good result. There's still work to be done.

Winner: Sébastien Buemi

At the wheel of a somewhat sluggish Toyota, which was also penalised with a drivethrough penalty for Brendon Hartley's failure to comply with a full course yellow procedure, Buemi once again showed off all his talent.

The Swiss driver enlivened the end of the race, managing to hold off Antonio Fuoco in a much faster Ferrari 499P for several long minutes. He even managed to make the Italian crack with just over 40 minutes to go.

"Maybe a podium could have been within reach, but considering everything, we scored quite a few points today," he said. "I think we did the best we could because we weren't at the level of the Ferraris. Now we will work very hard so that hopefully in Spa we will have an opportunity to fight."

Commentating on the international feed, former team-mate Anthony Davidson was full of praise for Buemi. "It's a masterclass in how to defend; take note," said Davidson. "He's being very fair, but he's just putting the car in the right places."

Loser: Antonio Fuoco

Ferrari AF Corse's benchmark driver since the start of the Hypercar programme, Fuoco should have easily secured a place on the front row. But he didn't even make it to Hyperpole. Why? His four laptimes were canceled for exceeding track limits. Unforgivable, given how dominant his car was.

"There's not much to say other than to apologise to the whole team and my team-mates, because we had the potential to start with three Ferraris at the front," Fuoco said on Saturday afternoon.

His mistake forced his team-mate Nicklas Nielsen to start from 18th place. But on such a narrow track, where overtaking manoeuvres are difficult, you pay for it immediately - even in a six-hour race. By opting for the undercut on the first stint and other strategic gambles that paid off, the #50 499P found itself battling for the top five with the #8 Toyota.

After repeatedly hitting the #8 Toyota at the rear, Fuoco attempted to overtake Buemi at Tamburello with 42 minutes to go, hitting his rival twice on the side at very high speed. Both cars ended up in the gravel.

Fuoco suffered a puncture and was also given a drivethrough penalty. This meant he finished 15th, preventing Ferrari from extending its lead in the constructors' championship.

Winner and loser: Valentino Rossi

On Friday, before the first practice, we asked Valentino Rossi if he felt he needed to improve in any particular area. "This season is different for me because if you're in the top 10 at the end of qualifying, the silver-ranked driver competes in the Hyperpole," he replied. "That's something I still need to work on to be able to set the best possible lap on new tyres."

His commendable humility did not prevent him from securing pole position, his first in the WEC. In the race, the #46 LMGT3 BMW fought hard for victory throughout. Unfortunately, with just over two hours to go, Rossi collided with Simon Mann, who was leading the way in the #21 Ferrari 296.

Logically, the stewards gave him a stop-and-go penalty. However, the various incidents during the race and a BoP that was far from unfavourable allowed the #46 to get back into the fight for the win. Unfortunately, Kelvin van der Linde missed out by 0.316s at the chequered flag - the closest ever LMGT3 finish.

"I have mixed feelings because a podium is a good result, but we could have won," said Rossi. "Unfortunately, I made a mistake and hit the Ferrari in front of me during an overtaking attempt. The subsequent penalty cost us the win. I am sorry for that."

A fault confessed is half forgiven.

Winner: Manthey Racing

An incredible performance from Manthey Racing, which finished the 2024 season in the top two positions of the LMGT3 championships thanks to four wins in eight races.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R was clearly not the fastest car last weekend, as evidenced by its 0.875s deficit on the fastest lap of the race in its class.

But, as last year, the German team proved superior to the competition in both strategy and execution. And its crew of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick was equally flawless.

"Others made a few mistakes, but our six-hour race was flawless," said Lietz. "That was the deciding factor. One more lap would have been difficult for us in the tough and spirited duel against BMW. Hopefully, things will continue to go this well - perhaps with a little less drama at the end."

Forced to retire in Qatar, Manthey is back and has moved up to fourth place in the overall standings, which is dominated by TF Sport's #33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. That Corvette finished only seventh, mainly due to the success handicap it received following its victory in Qatar.

Loser: Aston Martin

The Valkyries struggled at Imola, a circuit that is extremely difficult for a young car. But still...

The car was 2.3s off in qualifying and conceded 1.967s to the #51 Ferrari in the 20% best lap average, so it was impossible to hope for anything better than the last two places in the Hypercar class, four laps behind the winners.

This result meant there was no way Aston Martin could be classified as a winner. But what conclusions can be drawn?

What the WEC is risking with its Hypercar balancing measures

Read more

"We got both cars to the finish line without any major issues, which was the primary objective," Harry Tincknell said. "We collected data over six hours of racing with both cars, which will be invaluable.

"We still have a lot of work to do, but we've made significant progress since Qatar. In particular, we were able to experiment with the set-up, which gave us some direction to go in, especially for Spa. We have built good foundations for the future."

The gap is there: significant but not insurmountable. There is still potential to be unlocked in this car, not to mention the BoP, which makes the task particularly difficult for newcomers.

Winner: Akkodis-ASP

The 2024 season was so disappointing for the Lexus RC F LMGT3s that they are benefiting from a relatively favourable BoP at the start of 2025, based on the performance of the last three races.

After finishing fourth in Qatar, Akkodis-ASP confirmed its form at Imola, finishing third and fourth in the LMGT3 class. The French team proved that it has not lost the talent that enabled it to win several titles in the GT World Challenge Europe, as well as the Spa 24 Hours.

There was perhaps even more to get than a podium finish following the penalty given to the #46 BMW. But Akkodis-ASP is back, and that's great to see.

Loser: 2025 BoP

As we explained a few days ago, the ACO/FIA decided to opt for a 100% convergence BoP this year, meaning that it is supposed to - in theory, of course - give all cars the potential to set similar laptimes. But we are far from that, as Ferrari has been so dominant.

In the Hyperpole session, the 499P was almost a second ahead of all its rivals, with only Dries Vanthoor getting within a second of Antonio Giovinazzi. To find a bigger gap on the grid between the two fastest manufacturers, you have to go back to the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours, when the 499P was 1.4s ahead of the Toyotas. But that circuit is 13.626 km long, compared to 4.909 km at Imola.

From FP2 on Friday, the competition realised that it would be impossible to prevent Ferrari from winning, with its car advantage over a stint standing at 0.6s per lap, causing general incomprehension from the outset.

In the end, only Fuoco's bad Saturday and the safety car interventions prevented Ferrari from completely outclassing the competition. Admittedly, based on the average of the 60% best laps in the race, the winning #51 499P was only 0.188s, 0.199s and 0.314s ahead of the #20 BMW, the #8 Toyota and the #36 Alpine respectively.

But Ferrari's margin was such that the Calado/Giovinazzi/Pier Guidi trio always controlled the situation. They could certainly have increased the pace, but what would be the point if it wasn't necessary, especially when it has a direct impact on your BoP for upcoming races?

Why is the BoP (we explained how it works here) so favourable to Ferrari? Because as we told you many times, it is based on the last three races, including the last two rounds of the 2024 season, which did not go Ferrari's way.

Perhaps this will change when only the races from the 2025 season are taken into account to establish the BoP - from the Sao Paulo 6 Hours (13 July) onwards...