Imola Monday Notebook
Photo: Charly López/DPPI
***FIA World Endurance Championship teams were in full swing Monday at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, preparing for the Prologue, which will consist of only a single day. Click Here to view a photo gallery from the day’s pit lane action, which was impacted by intermittent rain showers. Rain is again in the forecast for tomorrow’s on-track running.
***The official pre-season test was originally due to take place at Lusail International Circuit in March, over a choice of two days for teams, ahead of the Qatar 1812km, the latter which has been postponed to late October due to the unrest in the Middle East.
***A number of teams, as well as series organizers, already had equipment in Qatar prior to the onset of the U.S./Israel’s military action on Iran that began on Feb. 28. Sportscar365 understands that BMW Team WRT was one of the quickest teams to react, having been able to divert its sea-freight that was already en-route to Qatar to be unloaded in Crete and be put into another ship bound back for mainland Europe.
***The final piece of sea-freight that came from Qatar arrived in the Imola paddock on Saturday, in what marked a significant undertaking for the WEC and its logistics partner DHL.
***Sportscar365 understands that the WEC has set a deadline of the summer, at the latest, to make a final decision on the closing two rounds of the season, which are currently confirmed for Qatar (Oct. 22-24) and Bahrain (Nov. 5-7). Contingency plans are believed to be in place at alternative venue(s) should conditions in the Middle East not be suitable for racing, with LMEM having reaffirmed having a full eight-round calendar this year.
***It’s understood that key requirements for the Middle Eastern races to occur as currently planned would be to ensure that the entire WEC paddock, which is comprised of 35-plus nationalities, would all be allowed into the nations of Qatar and Bahrain and also be able to travel safely.
***Both of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s are running with two-driver lineups this weekend due to the clashing IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Long Beach, where Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde, as well as Hertz Team JOTA’s Jack Aitken have prioritized.
***With Alex Lynn ruled out of the next two races due undergoing neck surgery, and both of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Valkyries running two-driver lineups, as became usual in the six-hour races last year, it means only 11 of the 17 Hypercar entries will have three-driver lineups this weekend.
***Genesis Magma Racing, which is making its WEC debut, has opted to utilize all six of its drivers for the GMR-001’s first outing, after initially being unclear whether the South Korean manufacturer would go with two or three-driver squads for the shorter races. The team took time for a group photo on Monday.
***Friday’s official start of the season, with Free Practice 1 and 2, will mark 499 days since Genesis’ announcement, held on Dec. 4, 2024 in Dubai, that it would enter endurance racing.
***The No. 69 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO will sport a different retro-inspired livery at each of the WEC rounds this year as part of an intriguing initiative from FIA Bronze-rated driver Anthony McIntosh. Each of the different color schemes will be based upon a classic BMW livery but will also feature what the team describes as a “slight Anthony McIntosh twist.” First up for Imola this weekend is a design resembling the Tic Tac colors used by BMW on its E30 M3 tin-top in the DTM in 1991.
***A Ferrari 499P, Toyota TS010 Hybrid and Porsche 963, the latter in a full Goodyear livery, took part in a tire test at Paul Ricard earlier this month. The test is understood to have been part of Goodyear’s upcoming tender process for the Hypercar class for the 2030-32 period.
***Per the tender rules, tire manufacturers are able to request an opportunity to gather data to best respond to the tender, which closes on Wednesday. The winner of the exclusive tire supply for the top category in the WEC will be announced on June 12 at the annual ACO press confernece at Le Mans.
***It’s unclear if any other tire manufacturers beyond Goodyear, which currently supplies the LMGT3 and LMP2 classes, as well as Michelin, which recently signed an exclusive tire extension with IMSA through 2035, are set to submit bids.
***Sportscar365 believes the 963 used for the Goodyear testing was from Proton Competition, although team boss Christian Ried declined to confirm if it was his car or team that was taking part in the test when asked during last weekend’s European Le Mans Series season opener in Barcelona.
***Sebastien Buemi (Qatar) and Richard Lietz (Bahrain) are poised to become the first drivers to reach the 100th WEC race milestone this year, should everything go to plan. The world championship celebrated its centenary race at last year’s 6 Hours of Fuji.
***Blake McDonald, who is subbing for the injured Ben Keating in the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for the opening two races, arrives at Imola with considerable experience with the Pratt Miller-built car, having contested last year’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season with DXDT Racing, and more recently, the 2025-26 Asia Le Mans Series with TF Sport, along with last weekend’s ELMS opener.
***McDonald, who has sampled several other GT3 cars in his short racing career, told Sportscar365 that he knew the moment he first turned laps in the car that it would be his machine of choice for his progression up the sports car racing ladder.
***He said: “First and foremost, I’m a patriot. I’m a proud American and I love being in an American-made race car, especially in the climate of sports cars right now. I’ve been trying to build my relationship with General Motors and Pratt Miller for a while, and I knew going from the U.S. to Asia to Europe to WEC, I wanted to do it with the same manufacturer.”
***On Feb. 26, Ferrari’s world championship-winning Hypercar drivers joined the Italian national aerobatic team ‘Frecce Tricolori’ for a day that included static and dynamic activities with the Ferrari 499P and the Italian Air Force’s MB-339 Pan aircraft.
***It included a flyover and aerobatic display while James Calado was at the wheel of the No. 51 Ferrari on the runway of the Rivolto air base in Friuli, as well as his teammates Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi taking to the sky in the cockpit of the military jet trainer.
***Toyota Racing driver Nyck De Vries has become a “Rolex Testimonee” joining Jenson Button and Jamie Chadwick in the group as Rolex celebrates the 10th anniversary of being the official timepiece of the WEC. “Rolex has such a strong history in sport and especially in motor racing, so to be associated with that legacy means a lot,” said the Dutchman.
***The compressed single-day Prologue on Tuesday will be comprised of two sessions, running from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CET and 2-6:30 p.m., totaling eight hours of available run time.
Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report
Source: Sports Car 365