The hunt for honours in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship gets underway with the 6 Hours of Imola this weekend (17-19 April), as no fewer than 14 major manufacturers head into battle and Ferrari targets a victorious home soil start to its title defence.
Named after the company’s eponymous founder and his first-born son, the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was constructed in 1953. Celebrated for its ‘old-school’ nature, the circuit’s association with endurance racing stretches back more than six decades, welcoming FIA WEC for the first time two years ago.
Its 4.909km anti-clockwise layout sees Hypercar drivers hit top speeds approaching 315km/h, change gear 42 times per tour and travel with a fully open throttle for two-thirds of the lap. Its bumpy surface and combination of straights and slow corners places the emphasis on high downforce, good traction, strong chassis compliance and a car capable of efficiently riding the kerbs, while its narrow design makes traffic management a challenge and its minimal asphalt run-off punishes every error.
The Autodromo is the fifth track to herald the beginning of an FIA WEC campaign, with the upcoming event marking the championship’s first European curtain-raiser since 2021. The four subsequent season-openers have been won by four different manufacturers – Alpine, Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari.
The 99 drivers on the grid across the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories this weekend include 11 previous winners at Imola, 15 series rookies – amongst them ex-Formula 1 ace, Logan Sargeant at Proton Competition and former FIA Formula 3 Champion, Victor Martins with Alpine Endurance Team – and seven homegrown heroes.
And to the great delight of the passionate Italian fans – the ever-loyal and enthusiastic tifosi – there are more Ferraris in the 35-strong field than any other marque, raising hopes of another home turf triumph in the brand’s backyard.
Located barely an hour down the road from its Maranello base, Imola is very much Ferrari’s local circuit on the calendar and witnessed a top three lockout in qualifying for the 499P Hypercar two years ago. Twelve months later, the #51 entry converted pole position into the Prancing Horse’s 60th victory in the series.
After Antonio Giovinazzi stopped the clocks an impressive three-quarters-of-a-second faster than anybody else in Hyperpole, the Italian together with stablemates James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi went on to dominate the race, leading for more than 80 per cent of the total distance.
Ferrari enters the new season aiming to retain its world championship title for the first time since 2022 – then in LMGTE Pro – and can take great encouragement from its prior form, with no other manufacturer having won as many curtain-raising contests across all classes combined...
In terms of overall FIA WEC records, however, Toyota remains the brand to beat. The automotive giant prevailed in Italy in 2024, and heads into action with a heavily-updated TR010 Hybrid as it bids to banish the memory of a disappointing 2025 campaign that yielded just a single success.
Experience is certainly on Toyota’s side. Imola will see the team tackle its 100th race in the series – with the Japanese carmaker the fourth to reach such a momentous milestone, alongside Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche – and it is chasing an extraordinary 50th triumph. Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi are the only two competitors to have participated in all Hypercar rounds to-date, while the marque’s unaltered sextet of drivers count more than 400 world championship outings between them.
The other current Hypercar contenders to have previously reached the rostrum at the Autodromo are BMW and Alpine. The former enters the fray having carried out significant aerodynamic revisions to its M Hybrid V8. Back at the scene of its solitary podium finish in 2025 – its equal-best result in FIA WEC’s top-tier – the Bavarian brand will be chasing its breakthrough victory.
Alpine is eager to get its valedictory campaign off to a strong start at a track where Les Bleus shone last year, while fellow French manufacturer Peugeot is sporting a bold new GTi-inspired look on its pair of 9X8s. Notably, Loïc Duval – one of just eight drivers to have contested every season in the series, in company with Toyota’s Hartley and Sébastien Buemi – will become the tenth protagonist to notch up 75 appearances.
Cadillac suffered a blow last week when it was revealed that Alex Lynn – who secured an unrivalled three pole positions in 2025 – will miss the first two rounds due to a planned procedure for an ongoing neck issue. While Imola was statistically the V-Series.R’s least successful circuit last year, the ever-improving American prototype is likely to be amongst the front-runners 12 months on.
Aston Martin’s striking Valkyrie is also expected to take a step forward in its sophomore season at the international pinnacle of the long-distance discipline, and South Korean newcomer Genesis is primed to take to the track following an intensive testing and development programme, as Hyundai’s luxury brand steps into the world of motorsport for the very first time.
BMW and reigning champion Porsche have shared the LMGT3 spoils in the past two editions of the 6 Hours of Imola. The former registered its first FIA WEC victory at the track in 2024 courtesy of a commanding one-two result, before Porsche turned the tables last year, pipping its German rival to the chequered flag by the margin of a mere 0.316 seconds – at the time, the tightest-ever finish in the category and still the seventh-closest across any division in the championship’s history. The Autodromo is additionally the only circuit where either marque has achieved a pole position in the class.
Augusto Farfus and Darren Leung – two-thirds of Team WRT’s #32 BMW entry – both claimed their maiden win at Imola, and the Emilia-Romagna venue similarly holds happy memories for Lexus, which sped to its breakthrough podium there last season, a result that opened the floodgates for two subsequent triumphs.
The Akkodis ASP Team-prepared Lexus RC F promises to be a serious championship contender in 2026, as does VISTA AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 Evo, which finished third in the standings in 2024 and runner-up last year in the hands of Alessio Rovera, François Hériau and Simon Mann, setting the trio up for a concerted title tilt as they endeavour to maintain their upward momentum.
In LMGT3 as in Hypercar, a fascinating fight is in prospect – and the gloves are about to come off!
The on-track sessions will begin with the traditional pre-season Prologue group test – offering up to eight hours of running – tomorrow (Tuesday, 14 April), followed by free practice on Friday, 17 April. Qualifying – and the all-important Hyperpole top ten shootout – starts at 14:30 CEST on Saturday, 18 April, with the six-hour race getting underway at 13:00 CEST on Sunday, 19 April.
Check out all the key information regarding the 6 Hours of Imola, including the full event timetable and entry list.
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