{"id":1313,"date":"2026-04-18T18:51:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:51:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:51:51","slug":"ferrari-on-pole-at-the-6h-of-imola-giovinazzi-edges-out-toyota-by-11-milliseconds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/ferrari-on-pole-at-the-6h-of-imola-giovinazzi-edges-out-toyota-by-11-milliseconds\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari on Pole at the 6H of Imola: Giovinazzi Edges Out Toyota by 11 Milliseconds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Antonio Giovinazzi secured a spectacular pole position for Ferrari at their home race in Imola, narrowly beating the Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa in what was the closest Hyperpole session in the history of the FIA World Endurance Championship.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari delivered a qualifying session for the ages this Saturday. In front of a passionate crowd of tifosi<\/em>, the #51 Ferrari 499P, driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, snatched the top spot on the grid for the opening round of the 2026 season.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Heart-Stopping Battle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The battle for the first pole of the year came down to the final seconds of the 10-minute Hyperpole shootout.<\/sup> Toyota Gazoo Racing appeared to have the upper hand after Ryo Hirakawa posted a stunning lap in the #8 GR010 Hybrid. However, Giovinazzi, finding extra pace in the final sector of his last flyer, crossed the line with a 1:29.466<\/strong>\u2014a mere 0.011 seconds<\/strong> faster than the Japanese driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We were a bit nervous because of a few small errors on the previous laps,” admitted Giovinazzi’s teammate, James Calado, after the session.<\/sup> “But Antonio pulled something special out of the bag at the very end. Maybe the energy of the tifosi<\/em> pushed him across the line!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Closest Grid in History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 Imola Hyperpole set a new record for competitiveness. The entire top 10 in the Hypercar class were separated by less than seven-tenths of a second, marking the closest gap since the Hyperpole format was introduced in 2024.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprising many, the #94 Peugeot 9X8<\/strong> showed incredible pace with Malthe Jakobsen at the wheel, finishing fourth and just 0.07s off the pole time.<\/sup> They were split by the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, ensuring two Ferraris start in the top three. Norman Nato also impressed in the sole Cadillac V-Series.R<\/strong> to make the shootout, securing fifth place.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debut Struggles and Newcomers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While the established giants fought at the front, some struggled with the technical nature of the Imola circuit. The Aston Martin Valkyries<\/strong> found the aggressive curbs of the Italian track difficult to manage, while the brand-new Genesis Magma Racing<\/strong> entries will start from the back of the grid for their WEC debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LMGT3: A Dream Debut for Garage 59<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the LMGT3 class, young Briton Thomas Fleming<\/strong> stunned the field.<\/sup> Driving for Garage 59<\/strong>, the team that took over McLaren\u2019s spot on the grid this year, Fleming secured pole position with a 1:41.181.<\/sup> It was an emotional result for the British outfit, rewarding their late-notice entry into the championship with a front-row start on their debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hypercar Hyperpole Top 5:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. #51 Ferrari AF Corse<\/strong> (A. Giovinazzi) \u2013 1:29.466<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing<\/strong> (R. Hirakawa) \u2013 +0.011<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. #50 Ferrari AF Corse<\/strong> (A. Fuoco) \u2013 +0.042<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies<\/strong> (M. Jakobsen) \u2013 +0.071<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. #12 Cadillac Racing<\/strong> (N. Nato) \u2013 +0.285<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The 6 Hours of Imola begins tomorrow at 13:00 local time<\/strong>, with Ferrari looking to convert their home pole into a season-opening victory.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Antonio Giovinazzi secured a spectacular pole position for Ferrari at their home race in Imola, narrowly beating the Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa in what was the closest Hyperpole session in the history of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari delivered a qualifying session for the ages this Saturday. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1314,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}