The World Endurance Championship is back in Italy for the second race of the 2025 season amidst an incredibly competitive field. Will Ferrari redeem themselves after last year’s strategy blunder? And just who will take victory in the closest LMGT3 field yet? It’s all to play for as Le Mans looms in the background, just under two months away.

As the hour ticked over there was drama for the #35 Alpine ran wide at the first corner while battling the #93 Peugeot, as Rene Rast’s #20 BMW had contact with the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway which caused the former to suffer damage to its rear wing.

Meanwhile the pit stops continued with an early stop from the #50 seeing it overtake the two Toyotas as the #8 received a drive through penalty thanks to breaching the short FCY procedure caused by the sister car’s earlier contact. So now the #15 BMW found itself part of a three tiered Ferrari sandwich, still running a metronomic third overall. The #36 Alpine was on a good run, now up to fifth having benefited from the Toyota woes.

In LMGT3 while Clelems Schmid was some twenty seconds up the road in the #87 Lexus, Valentino Rossi was now aboard the #46. He fought for second with teammate Timur Boguslavsky #31 BMW and the #21 AF Corse Ferrari of Simon Mann.

In Hypercar, there soon appeared to be someone who could challenge the blistering pace of Nielsen’s Ferrari in the shape of Raffaele Marciello. Having taken over the #15 car from Kevin Magnussen the Swiss driver started rapidly closing on Yifei Ye in the #83 Ferrari ahead and was also gapping Nielsen.

In other matters concerning the Hypercars, both Porsches were now running in the top ten having been practically nowhere all race, #6 ahead of #5. Cadillac and Peugeot had also both dropped back, the former struggling on their tyres. In fact by this point they were fourteenth and sixteenth, the #12 ahead of #38 and sandwiching the delayed #35 Alpine.

Then, the out of sequence pit strategy for the #87 saw them bring Clemens Schmid in leaving the #46 to take the race lead, though the battle for second was still closely contested by Simon Mann and Timur Boguslavsky. 

Having now pitted early, Nicklas Nielsen’s mega double stint came to a close as he handed over to Miguel Molina, who had an altogether different mission: Get the 50 back on fuel schedule. It meant that he was drawn back into the fight for fourth, having been caught by the #36 Alpine, #8 Toyota and the #6 Porsche which had fought its own way into the top ten.

The Proton #99 Porsche had been running as high as twelfth and hounded by the #93 Peugeot for lap after lap but eventually ran wide through the Villeneuve chicane and finally conceded to the cars behind. 

Molina eventually pitted for fuel and right side tyres with five minutes remaining in the third hour, slightly ahead of schedule. It meant the #8 and #6 could all stream on ahead and challenge Rafealle Marciello for third, who was mere seconds up the road in his BMW. The Alpine soon followed with Joules Gounon taking fuel and right side tyres. Porsche now ran fifth and sixth, #6 ahead of #5.

That was the case until the pit stops. In an incredible twist, the #6 Porsche found itself in the lead ahead of the #51 Ferrari, #20 BMW, #7 Toyota and #36 Alpine. Ferrari had somehow been beaten in the pits, with the #83 dropping one place ahead of the #50 in sixth. For Ferrari it was not so much a strategy blunder ala last year, moreso better tyre and fuel strategy by those around them. For the first time all race, Ferrari weren’t leading and the #6 Porsche had risen from tenth at the start of the race. Despite this, Antonio Giovinazzi, now aboard the #51, began hunting Matt Campbell’s #6 Porsche down and quickly closed to within a second. The two fought viciously for the lead over the next few laps, with the #50 close behind. Molina though was a lap down following an extra pit stop to correct the short fuelling carried out throughout the race.

Meanwhile the #87 Lexus, still a contender for the victory in LMGT3 received a 25 second stop and go penalty for breaching pit lane procedure, with the #31 WRT BMW also receiving a similar penalty for its part in Heart of Racing’s retirement earlier on. In the wider context of the class, the penalties for other cars over the course of the race meant that…

As a mistake from Campbell saw it lose the lead, there was more drama. Just prior, the #31 WRT had already been involved in controversy, but as Timur Boguslavsky sent it round the outside at the first corner he made contact with the #10 Aston, spinning round and giving the other car rear right damage. Then, trying to turn his car the right way round he swung it round right in front of oncoming traffic, and was nearly collected by the #33 Corvette.

And there was even more drama upfront. Having lost the lead to the #21 Ferrari of Simon Mann, Valentino Rossi sent it back up the inside at the second Rivazza. Unfortunately, he collided with the Ferrari and sent it into the barriers, bringing out a VSC. The #21 would return to the race a couple of laps later, albeit immediately pitting to repair the damage.

With this, a large portion of the Hypercar field took their next pit stops under VSC conditions meaning they lost far less time, but immediately as they did so the track was declared wet. Shortly after, the full safety car was brought out as teams frantically changed tyres to suit their strategy. Choosing the right one would be crucial, and the #51 put their faith in a new set of softs. 

So then, with the complexion of this race having been turned on its head, it all comes down to the final two hours to see who will come out on top. Oh, and there’s the small matter of rain to deal with as well!

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