For the second time this year, Antonio Giovinazzi has proved uncatchable in qualifying, with pole position for the #51 Ferrari crew taken care of ahead of tomorrow’s six hour affair. In doing so, he’s beaten last year’s Hyperpole time by an astounding six tenths of a second, posting a time of just under one minute and twenty nine seconds. 

There’s more good news for the Scurderia, too. After a dramatic fire wreaked havoc on the third Ferrari, Robert Kubica incredibly drove his #83 AF Corse entered car onto the front row. The yellow Ferrari will start alongside its factory counterpart in a real redemption story.

But unlike last year, Ferrari won’t be starting 1-2-3, as the sister #50 car had its fastest lap time deleted in the first session, preventing it from the pole position battle. In fact in the team’s home race, the #50 will start no less than eighteenth place on the grid.

Taking that third place is BMW, with another impressive run from Dries Vanthoor (who it should be noted has taken GTP pole in all three IMSA races this year) as Toyotas cars start fourth and fifth, #8 ahead of #7.

Both Alpine’s made it into Hyperpole for the first time this year, with Mick Schumacher’s #36 car taking sixth while the sister #35 car will line up on the grid in eighth. Splitting them is the beneficiary of the #50’s track limits troubles. Peugeot make it back to back Hyperpole appearances, with the #93 improving from tenth in Qatar to eighth here in Imola thanks to Jean-Eric Vergne. 

After looking strong in Qatar, there’s worrying signs for defending champions Porsche and the new-look JOTA/Cadillac team. Kevin Estre was plumb last in Hyperpole, and the #6 will start from tenth on the grid. Cadillac meanwhile will start just above them, Alex Lynn having secured the ninth spot on the grid for his #12 machine.

LMGT3 meanwhile is a vastly more competitive story. Five brands appear in the top six places for tomorrow’s grid, with Valentino Rossi taking a well deserved pole position in front of his home fans. His efforts mean BMW WRT’s #46 car have a clear track ahead of them tomorrow while Clemens Schmid registered an excellent second in his #87 Lexus. Then it’s Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin in third, with Simonn Mann in the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari fourth.

Lexus have also managed to get both cars into Hyperpole in consecutive races, the sister #78 car lines up fifth thanks to a good effort from youngster Finn Gehrzits. There’s also both Mclarens present, though they’re down the pecking order. Sean Geleal’s #95 will start eighth, with the sister car #59 ninth. Ford looked to have good pace in the earlier part of qualifying, though their efforts eventually culminated in a sixth place start for the #88 car.

And finally, after winning race one Corvette have been brought back down to earth. With their #33 Qatar-winning trio of Johnny Edgar, Ben Keating and Dani Jundacella down in sixteenth it’s the sister #81 car that starts tenth in tomorrow’s race.

So with Qualifying done, everything is set for 6 hours of relentless action tomorrow at Imola, as WEC’s 2025 season continues. Can Ferrari banish their strategy demons from this time last year? We’ll soon find out.

thumbnail credit – Seitooo, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons