Imola Saturday Notebook

***Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi scored his fourth FIA World Endurance Championship pole on Saturday at Imola (after COTA 2024, Qatar 2025 and Imola 2025), as well as the ninth for the Italian manufacturer in the Hypercar era. It also marks the second year in a row the No. 51 title crew has secured pole for the first race.

***Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa, the sister No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco and Peugeot driver Malthe Jakobsen all ended up within a tenth of Giovinazzi in what was the closest top four in top-class WEC history. It was also the closest Hyperpole session to date, with 0.674 seconds splitting all ten cars. The previous record was 0.688 seconds at Fuji in 2024.

***Toyota Racing technical director David Floury praised Hirakawa for splitting the Ferraris, as he underlined his belief that the Prancing Horse heads into the race in the best position. “Ryo put a very impressive lap together, but the Ferraris were very strong,” said Floury. “I think that was a really strong performance from Ryo. But Ferrari are clearly the favorites [for the race]. They are very strong.”

***Meanwhile, Tom Fleming took LMGT3 pole in the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in his very first attempt. The Briton, 23, was a Ferrari Challenge champion in 2023 before moving into the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS with Garage 59 and has now made the step into WEC with the squad.

***Fleming said: “To be on pole for my first race is pretty surreal to say the least so extremely grateful for the work that McLaren and Garage 59 have done to get us to this point. Antares [Au, Bronze driver] put in a really good lap to get us into Hyperpole and so we just thought, ‘Let’s see what we can do here.’ I pulled the pin so to speak and the car felt really, really good and I just gave it everything I could and left nothing on the table.”

***It marks McLaren’s fourth LMGT3 pole, drawing it level with Aston Martin for most poles in the class, as well as the Woking brand’s second straight pole in a season opener.

***It was a less positive story for the No. 58 McLaren as team co-owner Alexander West failed to progress to Hyperpole after a tricky session that included a spin at Rivazza and a brush with Peter Dempsey’s TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has left him starting 16th. West told Sportscar365 that Fleming’s performance was “great” but added: “I wish my first outing was better than it was.”

***Of his spin, West said it was not related to pushing too hard: “It was actually the opposite! I was catching the Corvette in front and I decided to back off to build up a little bit of a gap. But I kept the brake pressure so, when I turned in, I was overslowing the car and I had the brakes on while turning and that’s what made me lose it.”

***Norman Nato made a rare Hyperpole outing at the wheel of the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry in the absence of the car’s usual qualifier Alex Lynn, ending up fifth. “Taking everything into consideration, the limited testing, this being our first race weekend back together, and adapting to working without Alex for this race, there was a lot to manage,” said Nato. “For me personally, it was my first Hypercar qualifying session in 18 months, so there was a lot to relearn. I was a little concerned before qualifying, so to come away with a top-five result is very positive.”

***Alpine driver Charles Milesi was not disappointed to only qualify seventh in the lead A424, despite showing impressive practice pace earlier in the event – including topping FP2. The Frenchman was only 0.342 seconds adrift of the pacesetting Ferrari in the No. 35 car in Hyperpole, but knew not all manufacturers had shown their true pace before qualifying.

***Milesi told Sportscar365: “In FP2/FP3 we were pushing at the maximum, but we knew that the Ferraris, the Toyotas – Cadillac was a bit less expected – we saw they could have some potential in qualifying and the question was are they going to use it or not, and it looks like most of them used it. The gap that we had in FP2/FP3 was the same I think just people behind us in practice were playing with a bit more margin with the fuel. In the end we’re quite happy – we’re where we wanted, Hyperpole was the target.”

***BMW driver Robin Frijns admitted he was “expecting more” from qualifying than the ninth place he achieved, as the revised M Hybrid V8s filled out the final two positions in Hyperpole. “I was expecting more, especially seeing how the free practice sessions went,” he said. “I was hoping for P5 or P6, but we qualified P9 which is not bad, but not great either. Anyway, with the new aero update, our focus is on race pace, which hopefully works in our favor tomorrow.”

***Heart of Racing team principal Ian James was philosophical about the team not managing to get either of its Aston Martin Valkyries into Hyperpole, as Harry Tincknell qualified the quicker of the two cars 12th. James told Sportscar365: “We are struggling on the bumps and we are losing time in the areas where you have to take a lot of kerb. The general layout of the track is not the best for the Valkyrie. It prefer smoother, faster tracks, so Spa should be better for us.”

***At the wheel of the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, James failed to advance to LMGT3 Hyperpole as he wound up 12th in first qualifying. “It definitely wasn’t a clean lap; I probably could have sneaked through but I went off at the last corner on my best lap,” he revealed. “I don’t want to make excuses, but the temperature coming up also affected us quite a bit. The Vantage prefers cooler conditions.”

***Corvette driver Charlie Eastwood believes the postponement of the longer Qatar season opener has helped his TF-run No. 34 Racing Team Turkey crew, given he is sharing the car with newly-upgraded Silver driver Salih Yoluc and Dempsey, who has not raced for over a decade.

***Eastwood, who will start 10th for the 6 Hours of Imola, told Sportscar365: “As much as we would like to be in Qatar with no war going on, it’s honestly worked out pretty well for us. With such a big points race [to start the year], Peter’s never done driver changes, he’s never done a full stint, Salih’s just back into this first time driving on this tire and in WEC as a Silver. That’s a lot of things to have to go right.”

***Ferrari global head of endurance Antonello Coletta has suggested the Italian marque may apply for an Evo joker upgrade for its 499P for 2027, having elected to go into the 2026 season without deploying one. The car’s one and only joker upgrade so far came ahead of the 2024 São Paulo round, although minor changes were made this year owing to the rehomologation in the Windshear wind tunnel.

***Coletta told assembled reporters: “From Imola 2026, we are restarting from zero because all the cars are rehomologated and some cars changed the configuration with the joker. We probably will change some issues next year. But we’d like to see the first race of the year, and after that we will take our decision. We will see when the moment is correct for us to play some jokers, but for now I prefer to maintain this situation.”

***While Coletta refused to comment on the FIA/ACO’s new policy of not publishing Balance of Performance tables speaking to international media, he expressed a degree of disappointment about the move to Italian media. “Although there are rules, and the rules must be respected, clearly we would all like to know more about what goes on behind the scenes,” he said. “Sadly this is something that will be missing from the story of each race.”

***Genesis Magma Racing’s Andre Lotterer has stated he prefers the way the GMR-001 handles compared to the Porsche 963 he was used to previously owing to a sharper front end.

***Responding to a query during the pre-event press conference, Lotterer said: “There’s actually quite a big difference between the cars. The front axle of the Genesis, of the Oreca chassis, is much more direct and precise. Maybe after I left Porsche it improved, but the Porsche needed more guesswork. I like the Oreca chassis; it’s very pure as a race car and you understand a bit more what’s going on, performance aside.”

***Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli will wave the green flag to start Sunday’s 6H Imola. The 19-year-old, who has won two of the first three F1 grands prix of the year, hails from nearby Bologna.

***The LED display panels on each car have been upgraded for 2026 to show new information. A multi-colored bar now show’s each car’s energy levels underneath the number to indicate position, except when a car has just left pit lane, when it simply states ‘OUT’. In the pits, the car’s energy level is shown during refuelling, while tire changes are also timed. When a car is leaving the pits, the panel will also confirm the driver on board with a three-letter code.

***Additionally, the panel will feature a yellow strip with ‘FCY’, ‘SC’ or ‘VSC’ when there is a neutralization.

***Shea Adam has joined the official WEC broadcast team on a full-time basis, joining Bruce Jouanny on pit lane, alongside an  unchanged booth lineup of Martin Haven, Anthony Davidson and Graham Goodwin. Coverage of the race, available on the new FIAWEC+ service, begins Sunday at 12 p.m. CET (6 a.m. EST), which does not have geoblocks in the U.S. or Canada.

***Radio Show Limited’s free and live coverage of Sunday’s race, meanwhile, will be anchored by John Hindhaugh and special guests.

Stephen Lickorish and Gary Watkins contributed to this report