Antonio Giovinazzi headed 1-2 in Hypercar for AF Corse Ferrari ahead of Peugeot’s #94 9X8 following a disrupted FP3 session at Imola.
AF Corse Ferrari finished strongly in both the FIA World Endurance Championship‘s Hypercar and LMGT3 categories on Italian tarmac, as Peugeot claimed a promising third place overall.
With dry, clear conditions, teams across both classes made their final preparations towards the crucial qualifying session later on.
Two successive red flags for two separate incidents and a later full-course-yellow marked an inconsistent session, especially for the JOTA Cadillac team.
Just five minutes into the 60-minute session, Alex Lynn found himself into the barrier at Turn 17 after he hit the bump on approach and briefly upset the rear of his #12 JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar (on cold tyres) – causing him to slide along the grass and gravel into the barrier. He exited the car on his own strength.
The stricken Cadillac, retrieved during the 10-minute-long red flag, allowed marshals to clear minor debris on the approach to T17, such as from Lynn’s impact with the polystyrene board.
Five minutes later, a second red flag came out for Robert Kubica’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P who stopped his Hypercar at the side of T10 after suffering abrupt engine issues. Simultaneously, Iron Dames driver Celia Martin spun her #85 Porsche 911 GT3.R at T2 before continuing again.
The session resumed with 33 minutes on the clock as drivers were keen to gain useful mileage from the session.
After spinning at T3, Sebastien Bourdais got his #38 JOTA Cadillac stuck in the gravel trap – initiating a full-course-yellow – before he was freed and continued on his way. Stewards later penalised the #38 for FCY procedures with a five-minute stop-and-go penalty, as they did with the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Ferrari 1-2 in Hypercar, 2-3 in LMGT3
After the final 22-minute stretch of green-flag running, Giovinazzi set the outright quickest lap time in the #51 Ferrari 499P Hypercar, a 1:30.272.
Antonio Fuoco set the sibling #50 AF Corse Ferrari in second position with a 1:30.335, followed by Peugeot’s Stoffel Vandoorne in the #94 9X8 Hypercar.
The Belgian set a 1:31.670 ahead of fourth-placed #38 JOTA Cadillac which ran a 1:31.735 by Bourdais.
Ryo Hirakawa rounded off the top-five in the category for the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar (1:31.743).
Meanwhile AF Corse ran 1-2 in the LMGT3 category for most of the session – before Esteban Masson of the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 drove a 1:42.852.
Alessio Rovera followed in the #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 with a 1:43.058 ahead of the other #54 Ferrari which set a 1:43.201 by Simon Mann.
WRT’s #31 BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo driver Augusto Farfus finished in fourth after he set a 1:43.259, followed by the other #87 Akkodis Lexus.
See here for the full classification of results from FP3. Qualifying commences at 14:30 local or 13:30 UTC.
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