6 Hours of Imola – Qualifying: Ferrari on home turf, Valentino Rossi a hero

Clearly, BMW had given instructions to its drivers. Whether in Hypercar or in GT3, they had to attack right from the start. In the top category, the #15 quickly lit up the sectors, with the sister car, the #20, following closely behind.

The two cars from Vincent Vosse’s team were truly impressive in the early minutes of the first part of qualifying. It wasn’t until the final moments of the session that the Ferraris came alive. And in style. Car #51 improved by nine tenths to drop below the 1-minute 30-second mark (1:29’623”). Car #50 was very close, but its time was canceled due to track limits. Car #83 also jostled for position.

Charles Milesi, in the Alpine #35, overdid it and went on an excursion into the gravel. Fortunately for him, there was no damage. The Frenchman regained his composure and managed to make it into the Hyperpole zone. Big disappointment, however, for the Peugeot #93, which narrowly missed the tenth qualifying place, just like the #94.

So impressive, the BMW #20 was not qualified for the rest of the session, as its times were canceled due to track limits. The Aston Martins have closed the gap with the competition, while Sébastien Bourdais’ Cadillac finished in sixteenth place. A big surprise given the start of the weekend.

Hyperpole

Big surprise at the start of the Hyperpole. The Ferrari #50 was ready to go but was called back to its pit. Its best time was canceled due to track limits. It will start in last place. The situation benefited the Peugeot #93.

The situation did not disrupt the other Scuderia garages. After an excellent lap time by the BMW #15, the two prancing horse cars relegated this Hypercar to almost half a second behind. The #51 wrapped up the session a minute before the end with a new improvement at 1:28’920”. BMW was 965 thousandths behind.

The French forces will be grouped on the starting grid. The Alpines will start sixth and eighth. The Peugeot has positioned itself between the two A424s.

In GT3

Despite cold tires, Ahmad Al Harthy set a very strong pace with his BMW #46. The WRT team driver quickly found confidence to take the best provisional reference time (1:43.718). The competitors were relegated to nearly a second behind. The Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin was only nine-tenths behind.

Many cars were ahead of the benchmark in the first two sectors before losing everything in the final corners. The Saudi driver delivered a very strong performance in the last part of the corner.

Assured of being in the top 10, Ahmad Al Harthy returned to the pits before the end of the session. A performance that contrasts with the other BMW of WRT, which struggled to achieve interesting lap times. Ben Keating in the Corvette #33 didn’t manage to find the solution, finishing with the sixteenth time.

The Iron Dames did not manage to get through the first qualifying session. Célia Martin, who cut her effort in her last attempt, only made the fourteenth reference.

Hyperpole qualifiers for the LMGT3 class ⬇️

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L’hyperpole

Like his teammate, Valentino Rossi in the BMW #46 took off like a rocket right away. It took a good part of the session for his competitors to reach his level and possibly beat him. The Lexus #87 managed to take provisional pole, just ahead of the Aston Martin from Heart of Racing, which completed a very nice lap.

The Italian, a former MotoGP legend, put in a phenomenal final sector to regain three-tenths of a second over the entire field. The Lexus #87 was on track to set things straight, but going too wide at Piratella led to an off-track excursion, resulting in a canceled lap time. This mistake allowed Valentino Rossi to claim pole position on home soil.

POLE POSITION FOR ROSSI AT HOME!! 👏👏#WEC #6HImola @ValeYellow46 @followWRT pic.twitter.com/NBi2J3e3iL

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) April 19, 2025