51 PIER GUIDI Alessandro (ita), CALADO James (gbr), GIOVINAZZI Antonio (ita), Ferrari AF Corse, Ferrari 499P #51, Hypercar, action during the 6 Hours of Imola 2024, second round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, from April 18 to 21, 2024 at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy – Photo by Clément Luck / DPPI
Antonio Giovinazzi leads the 6 Hours of Imola race, ahead of Laurens Vanthoor and Mike Conway.
Giovinazzi overtook Kubica early on, while Nicklas Nielsen maintained his first place position. However, there was a safety car period shortly after due to a multi-car accident at Tamburello.
Jean-Karl Vernay collided with Matthieu Vaxiviere, causing Vaxiviere to collide with Marco Wittmann, who then hit Paul di Resta. Vaxiviere had to go to the pits for repairs, and Wittmann’s BMW is still in the pits. Di Resta also had to pit to change a wheel.
In the LMGT3 class, Alex Malykhin is leading the race and has held his position since the start. There was a collision between Sarah Bovy and Yasser Shahin, resulting in Shahin hitting the barriers. Both cars had to pit for repairs.
After the safety car period, the Ferraris began to increase their advantage. Nielsen set the fastest lap of the race so far and opened up a 3-second gap to Giovinazzi. However, Thomas Flohr crashed at Tamburello, bringing another safety car period.
Once the race resumed, the gap between the top 4 cars narrowed to just two seconds. Laurens Vanthoor was in second place, closely followed by Conway. Kubica and Fred Makowiecki were also among the top five.
The pit stop cycle has begun, and Nielsen has dropped to sixth place. Vanthoor and Conway have moved up to second and third place, respectively, behind Giovinazzi. Kubica is in fourth place, followed by Makowiecki and Nielsen.
Malykhin still leads the LMGT3 class, with the two BMWs from Team WRT in second and third place. Amhad Al Harthy is in second place, followed by Darren Leung.
