The 2024 6 Hours of Imola was an endurancesportscar racing event held on 21 April 2024, as the second of eight rounds of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the second running of the event, and the first running of the event as part of the World Endurance Championship.
Background
The event was announced on 9 June 2023, during the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend. The Italian round of the World Endurance Championship was held at Monza in July between 2021 and 2023. To accommodate an additional non-European race, the Italian round was moved from July to April. Since the Monza circuit is currently undergoing upgrade works, the round was moved from Monza to Imola.[1]
Prior to the race, Peugeot unveiled their updated Peugeot 9X8, including a rear wing and a change in tire size: the front tires having a tread width of 29 centimeters, and the rear tires having a tread width of 34 centimeters, aligning with the rest of the Hypercar field.[2]
The entry list was revealed on 2 April 2024, with 19 entries in the Hypercar category, and 18 entries in the LMGT3 category. In Hypercar, the No. 2 Cadillac Racing entry dropped from three to two drivers: Sébastien Bourdais did not drive for the team in Imola. Furthermore, Ferdinand Habsburg was replaced by Jules Gounon in the No. 35 Alpine Endurance Team entry, since the former was still recovering from an injury.[3] All other entered teams and drivers stayed the same as in Qatar.[4][5]
There are three practice sessions scheduled to be held preceding the start of the race on Sunday: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The sessions on Friday afternoon and Friday evening lasted 90 minutes, and the final session on Saturday morning lasted for 60 minutes.[6]
Note: Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
Practice 2
The second practice session took place at 17:15 CEST on Friday. Fuoco was quickest in the No. 50 Ferrari with a lap time of 1:30.957. Kévin Estre was second in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry, 0.342s behind. Robert Shwartzman ended up third in the No. 83 Ferrari.[12] Eastwood was quickest in LMGT3 in the No. 81 Corvette, with a lap of 1:41.986, which was 0.187s faster than Alessio Rovera's lap in the No. 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari. Juncadella was third-quickest in the No. 82 Corvette.[13]
Note: Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
Final practice
The third and final practice session took place at 11:10 CEST on Saturday. Fuoco was once again quickest in the No. 50 Ferrari, with a lap of 1:31.238. He was 0.034s quicker than Dries Vanthoor in the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT entry, with team-mate René Rast in the No. 20 BMW a further 0.271s behind.[16] In LMGT3, Marco Sørensen was quickest in the No. 777 D'station Racing Aston Martin, lapping the track in 1 minute and 42.474 seconds. He was half a second quicker than Daniel Mancinelli in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, with Augusto Farfus in the No. 31 Team WRT BMW in third.[17] The session saw one stoppage, when Paul di Resta beached his No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies entry in the gravel at turn 18.[17]
^The No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team entry had all its lap times deleted due to a faulty sensor.[20]
^The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry received a 5-second time penalty for overtaking under the safety car. The car kept its second-place position.[23]
^The No. 27 Heart of Racing Team entry received a 10-second time penalty for leaving its engine running whilst refuelling. The car kept its position of fifth in class.[28]
^The No. 15 BMW M Team WRT entry was disqualified as it did not rejoin parc fermé under its own power.[29]
