BMW and Ferrari set identical top times in second Imola WEC practice
Ferrari AF Corse's No. 51 499P and BMW Team WRT's No. 15 M Hybrid V8 ended up setting identical benchmark lap times in Free Practice 2 for (...)
Ferrari AF Corse’s No. 51 499P and BMW Team WRT’s No. 15 M Hybrid V8 ended up setting identical benchmark lap times in Free Practice 2 for the 6 Hours of Imola, with Antonio Giovinazzi and Kevin Magnussen both completing 1m31.040s tours of the circuit.
These times came early on in the second 90-minute run of the weekend, which was held in the dry, and saw the screens display the No. 51 at the top of the leaderboard.
Interestingly, it’s not the first time a WEC session has ended in a dead heat, as back in 2014 a Porsche and Toyota matched times to the thousandth in qualifying at Shanghai. In that instance, though, it was averaged over two qualifying times.
Alpine’s No. 36 Alpine made it three manufacturers in the top three with a 1m31.283s during Fred Makowiecki’s time in the car.
The Qatar-winning No. 50 Ferrari took fourth, with a 1m31.394s, while the No. 20 BMW completed the top five with a 1m31.518s. The quickest JOTA Cadillac was the No. 38, which took sixth on the leaderboard.
“Ended up in the top six, so not too bad,” JOTA’s Earl Bamber said. “Good baseline — we had a good test here. We have a bit of work to do overnight but at least everything lines up from the test. The top 10 is incredibly competitive this weekend, so pushing all the small details and we’ll see how quali goes tomorrow.”
As a whole it was extremely close in the Hypercar class, with the top 11 cars setting times within a second of each other, as both Porsche and Toyota also sneaked cars into the top 10.
In LMGT3, AKKODIS ASP flexed its muscles, its pair of Lexus RC F LMGT3s sitting 1-2 atop the times in the class. The No. 87 set a 1m42.944s with Jose Maria Lopez at the wheel and was the only car in the category to set a lap under 1m43s.
The team’s sister No. 78’s best time was a 1m43.063s to go second. The best of the rest was WRT’s No. 46 BMW M4 in third, following a 1m43.186s from Kelvin van der Linde.
Vista AF Corse’s No. 21 Ferrari 296 ended up fourth fastest and the No. 77 Proton Competition Mustang completed the top five. The 18-car field was separated by 1.7s.
Like Free Practice 1, the session ran without interuption. Free Practice 3 is set to get underway at 10:40am Saturday.
