BMW and Ferrari Lock Equal Times in Thrilling Imola WEC Practice
BMW and Ferrari locked identical times in Free Practice 2 at Imola WEC, with Antonio Giovinazzi's No. 51 499P and Dries Vanthoor's No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 both setting 1m31.040s laps.
BMW M Hybrid V8 racing at Sebring
The matching times came early in the 90-minute dry session, marking a rare occurrence in WEC history. A similar situation last happened in 2014 when Porsche and Toyota set identical qualifying times at Shanghai.
Alpine's No. 36 claimed third with a 1m31.283s from Fred Makowiecki, followed by the Qatar-winning No. 50 Ferrari (1m31.394s) and the No. 20 BMW (1m31.518s). JOTA Cadillac's No. 38 finished sixth.
The Hypercar class showed remarkable competitiveness, with the top 11 cars separated by less than one second, including strong showings from both Porsche and Toyota in the top 10.
In LMGT3, AKKODIS ASP dominated with their Lexus RC F GT3s taking the top two spots. The No. 87 led with Jose Maria Lopez's 1m42.944s, while the No. 78 sister car posted 1m43.063s. WRT's BMW M4 completed the top three with a 1m43.186s from Kelvin van der Linde.
The 18-car LMGT3 field finished within 1.7 seconds of each other, with Vista AF Corse's Ferrari 296 and Proton Competition's Mustang rounding out the top five.
The session ran without interruption, with Free Practice 3 scheduled for 10:40am Saturday.
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