Ryo Hirakawa leads the FIA World Endurance Championship season opener, the 6 Hours of Imola, at the halfway mark, with Toyota in an immense battle with Ferrari for the victory of the race.
The Japanese driver’s teammate Brendon Hartley started the race from second place in the #8 Toyota. However, the experienced Kiwi dropped to third before the first corner as Miguel Molina, in the #50 Ferrari, jumped him on the way to Tamburello.
This gave Ferrari a 1-2 at their home race, with James Calado leading in the sister #51 car, with Hirakawa third.
The two Ferraris and the Toyota have, since then, been engaged in the battle for the lead, with the gap staying relatively small. Two caution periods have closed the field up and eliminated any gaps, with the first caused by ASP Lexus LMGT3 driver Petru Umbraescu getting beached in one of Imola’s many gravel traps. He was craned out but later retired.
Hartley subsequently jumped Molina in the pit stop cycle, up to second behind Calado and now right on the Briton’s tail as a result of the safety car. Molina, on 50-lap soft tyres, then lost third to Will Stevens in the #12 Cadillac, with the Cadillac driver’s new medium tyres providing superior grip.
Nick Cassidy, in the #93 Peugeot, then spun his car exiting the pits on cold tyres at Tamburello, also beaching his 9X8 into the gravel and needing to be lifted out by the marshals, with the assistance of a crane.
Most of the leading Hypercars pitted at this point to take advantage of the cheap stop, with the exception of Stevens in the #12 machine, who now led from Hirakawa and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Ferrari. However, Stevens had a drive through penalty to take, surrendering the lead to the Toyota after the first flying lap.
Hirakawa now leads Pier Guidi by less than a second. 8 seconds back is Antonio Felix da Costa in the #35 Alpine, the Portuguese returning to WEC this year and making his debut for the French squad. Fourth is the other Toyota, the #7 of Nyck de Vries, while fifth is #15 BMW of Kevin Magnussen. The former leader, Stevens in the #12 Cadillac is 14th after his penalty, with the #50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen behind in 15th thanks to an off-kilter pitstop strategy.
In LMGT3, the pole-sitting #10 Garage 59 McLaren leads the class, with Marvin Kirchhoffer at the wheel. His teammate Antares Au started on pole and the car has been near the front of the field all race. Second is Parker Thompson in the #69 WRT BMW, followed by Jonny Edgar in the #33 TF Sport Corvette.
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