Dakar Rally: Ferrari Dominates Hyperpole Session at Imola WEC
In an impressive display of speed and precision, Ferrari has taken the top three positions on the grid for the upcoming Imola round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Ferrari factory driver Antonio Fuoco secured pole position aboard the #50 499P Le Mans Hypercar, setting a blistering lap time of 1m29.466s in the Hyperpole session. Fuoco commented, “I felt really good inside the car, really confident. The first lap was already quite a good one, but I found some small details on the second run.“
Filling out the Ferrari front row lock-out were the customer AF Corse-run #52 entry driven by Robert Shwartzman in second, and the factory #51 car of Alessandro Pier Guidi in third. Shwartzman’s best lap of 1m29.885s was just 0.419s shy of Fuoco’s pole time.
The best of the rest was the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh of Kevin Estre, finishing fourth with a 1m30.101s lap. Estre’s Porsche was the only non-Ferrari to make the top five, underlining the pace of the Italian marque’s new Le Mans Hypercar.
In the highly competitive LMGT3 class, Belarusian Aliaksandr Malykhin claimed pole position for Manthey PureRxcing in the Porsche 911 GT3-R, posting a 1m42.365s lap. Aston Martin driver Ian James was second, with Ahmad Al Harthy’s BMW M4 GT3 rounding out the top three.
“The first lap was already quite a good one, but I found some small details on the second run.”
- Antonio Fuoco, Ferrari factory driver
The Imola 6 Hours, round two of the 2023 WEC season, is scheduled to start at 13:00 local time on Sunday. With Ferrari’s dominating display in qualifying, the stage is set for an exciting battle for victory in the Hypercar class.
🔗 Source