The first official laps of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season unfolded under warm spring sunshine at Imola, with 35 cars from 14 manufacturers taking to the track. Robert Kubica’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari led a scarlet 1-2-3 in Hypercar, the tifosi in raptures, as LMGT3 kicked off with Corvette pace and a pair of Full Course Yellows.
Hypercar: Kubica’s #83 Headlines Prancing Horse Sweep
Robert Kubica stamped early authority in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P — shared with 2025 Le Mans winners Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson — at 1:31.739s, topping FP1 for the third straight Imola opener. Antonio Fuoco lurked 0.023s behind in #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen); reigning champions James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi locked out third in #51, 0.243s off Kubica’s benchmark.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA #12 (Norman Nato/Will Stevens, minus injured Alex Lynn) took best non-Ferrari fourth at 1:32.183s. Peugeot TotalEnergies’ #94 (Loïc Duval/Théo Pourchaire/Malthe Jakobsen) and #93 (Paul di Resta/Stoffel Vandoorne/Nick Cassidy) followed 5th/6th; Toyota Racing #8 (Sébastien Buemi) 7th en route to its 100th start; Alpine #35 (António Félix da Costa/Ferdinand Habsburg/Charles Milesi) 8th; BMW M Team WRT #15/#20 (Raffaele Marciello/Robin Frijns) 9th/10th. Genesis Magma Racing’s #19/#17 capped 15th/16th in debut action.
LMGT3: Eastwood’s Corvette Tops McLaren, Aston Fight
Charlie Eastwood set LMGT3 pace at 1:42.678s in #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette. Finn Gehrsitz (#58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, Alexander West/Benjamin Goethe) trailed 0.170s; San Marino resident Mattia Drudi grabbed third (1:42.891s) in #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage (Ian James/Zacharie Robichon).
#21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari (Alessio Rovera/Simon Mann/François Hériau) took fourth (1:42.919s); Garage 59 #10 (Tom Fleming/Antares Au) fifth post-Tamburello gravel (first FCY at 15 mins); #23 Heart of Racing Aston (Gray Newell/Kobe Pauwels/Jonny Adam) sixth. #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche landed 12th. Darren Leung excursioned at Variante Alta (second FCY at 55 mins); bollard cleared swiftly.
