Kobayashi secures Toyota first win of the season at WEC Imola

Kamui Kobayashi edged Kevin Estre to secure Toyota its first victory of the season over Porsche at WEC Imola, after choosing the correct tyres in a mid-race rain shower that caught out Ferrari.

Toyota Gazoo Racing claimed an unlikely victory in the 6 Hours of Imola as Kamui Kobayashi held off a charging Kevin Estre at the end of a thrilling, rain-affected second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Kobayashi and his teammates in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, made full use of a rain shower that split strategies up and down the Hypercar field and allowed Toyota and Porsche a chance to beat Ferrari on its home turf.

The number six Porsche of Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor pressed Toyota hard in the closing laps. But they needed to pass Kobayashi and pull out a five second margin to overcome a late time penalty for overtaking under Safety Car conditions.

Estre was unable to make a move on the Toyota, dropped back as they encountered a string of lapped cars around the narrow Imola circuit, and had to settle for second. Matt Campbell brought the No. 5 car home he shares with Frederic Makowiecki and Michael Christensen in third place, 25 seconds behind the winning Toyota.

Ferrari held a dominant position at the halfway mark with its two factory 499Ps running one and two, but the Italian manufacturer dropped the ball by leaving all three of its cars out on slick tires on a track that was steadily becoming wetter.

Despite the home favourites locking out the first three positions on the grid, they failed to get a single car home in the podium places. The number 50 car of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen started from pole position and led early but the team lost out when rain arrived with just over two hours remaining.

The number 50 499P ultimately finished in fourth, capitalising on a late mistake by Brendon Hartley in the number eight Toyota he shared with Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa. They had been on an almost identical strategy to the winning sister car, but Hartley lost time with two off-track moments on cold slick tires late on.

BMW had looked like a podium challenger during the worst of the rain, as the No. 20 car of Sheldon van der Linde ran fourth, but an off-track moment and a later drive-through penalty left he and teammates Rene Rast and Robin Frijns a lapped sixth.

The two remaining Ferraris came home seventh and eighth, with the No. 51 car of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi coming home ahead of the third-string No. 83 AF Corse entry of Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye.

Peugeot salvaged two points for ninth on a difficult debut race for its revised 9X8, while Cadillac Racing’s solo V-Series.R claimed the final point in 10th.

Team WRT secures 1-2 in LMGT3

In the LMGT3 class, Team WRT put on a strategic masterclass in the changing conditions to deliver a one-two finish with its pair of BMW M4 GT3s.

The pole-winning No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R looked to be in a strong position to repeat its dominant Qatar victory early in the race, but the team erred by bringing in Klaus Bachler for wet tires in the worst of the rain.

While the track was wet enough to force the entire Hypercar field on to wet tires, there was more a split among the LMGT3 field, with the two TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and the No. 55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 among the other teams to make the switch.

On the other hand, WRT kept both its cars out on slicks for the duration, which turned the battle for class honors into a two-way fight between the respective pro drivers in each of its cars, Augusto Farfus in the No. 31 car and Maxime Martin in the No. 46 car.

Ultimately, a drive-through penalty for the No. 46 car for not respecting the virtual safety car procedures opened the way for Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung to take a straightforward victory by 22 seconds over Martin, Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy.

The No. 92 Manthey Porsche of Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler was third, having later switched back to slicks, a lap down on the BMWs.

Completing the top five were the No. 55 Ferrari of Alessio Rovera, Francois Heriau and Simon Mann and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas.

WEC Imola Six Hours race results