All three Ferrari 499P cars finished first, second, and third in both sessions of the Prologue opening the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, over eight hours of collective testing at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, with a total of 17 Hypercars on track.

Antonio Fuoco set the fastest time of the day with a 1:31.177 during the afternoon session, four-tenths below what Antonio Giovinazzi had achieved in the morning with the #51 car that defends the drivers' and teams' titles alongside James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi. Robert Kubica was second in both sessions in the customer AF Corse 499P, the car that won the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the three cars accumulated 556 laps throughout the day, with Kubica's #83 being the most active, adding 194.

Photo By DPPI

The morning began with damp asphalt, and all teams took advantage of those early hours to run on the new Michelin rain tires, which partly explains why the first session times were slower and the gap between Ferrari and the rest was larger. Giovinazzi had stopped the clock at 1:31.586, with more than a second over Norman Nato in the Cadillac and 1.3 over Rast in the BMW.

BMW came within half a second in the afternoon

The second session, which started dry although rain reappeared later, drastically reduced that gap. Robin Frijns put the BMW M Hybrid V8 #20 within 532 thousandths of the fastest time, almost a full second less deficit than in the morning, and his teammate Raffaele Marciello placed the #15 in eighth, just over a second back, a considerable improvement for a car that had only managed 25 laps in the morning due to an engine change. The team worked over the winter on the car's aerodynamics, and at this same track last year, the #20 of Rast, Frijns, and Sheldon van der Linde finished second in the race.

The two Alpine A424s were very close to each other in fifth and sixth place in the afternoon, separated by just four thousandths between Jules Gounon and Ferdinand Habsburg. Alpine will not be on the grid in 2027, so every session with the A424 counts double for a program looking to bow out with results.

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Toyota and Cadillac far from the front pace

Toyota arrived with its evolved TR010 Hybrid and the intention of leaving behind a 2025 where the team won only one race all season, but the Prologue times did not support those expectations. Ryo Hirakawa was ninth in the afternoon, 1.232 seconds behind Fuoco in the #8, and Kamui Kobayashi eleventh in the #7, 1.310 seconds back, although Kobayashi accumulated 106 laps, the highest number of any Hypercar in the session. Toyota has 99 championship participations and 49 victories, figures that give it a historical perspective no other Hypercar manufacturer can match, but also amplify the pressure of a season start with those numbers on the clock.

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA faced a particular situation as it heads into the first round without Alex Lynn, who will miss the first two rounds because he must recover from neck surgery. Sébastien Bourdais took the seat in the #38 and finished twelfth, 1.4 seconds behind, with Nato fourteenth in the #12, 1.7 seconds back.

The two Peugeot 9X8s arrived with a new livery and placed seventh and tenth with Malthe Jakobsen and Nick Cassidy respectively, within 1.3 seconds of the lead, a mid-pack position that improved on what was seen in pre-season testing.

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More than 350 laps for Genesis in its first track appearance

Genesis Magma Racing accumulated more than 350 laps across its two GMR-001 cars, with Paul-Loup Chatin fifteenth, 2.4 seconds behind, and André Lotterer sixteenth, 2.5 seconds back. Hyundai's premium division faces its first official competition in any category, and the Prologue was essentially an exercise in accumulating mileage and data, with Mathieu Jaminet improving his times progressively throughout the day.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie #007 of Harry Tincknell completed 47 laps and was 1.4 seconds off, but the #009 could not run in the second session because Marco Sørensen had crashed into the barriers during the morning and the team could not repair the damage in time. Alex Riberas recorded no time.

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Five manufacturers within 250 thousandths in LMGT3

Alessio Rovera was fastest in the morning in the Ferrari 296 of VISTA AF Corse, and Mattia Drudi did the same in the afternoon in the Aston Martin Vantage of Heart of Racing Team, just 51 thousandths behind Rovera in the combined classification. Five different brands occupied the top five positions in both sessions, with gaps not exceeding 250 thousandths, and Garage 59 placed Tom Fleming (third) and Finn Gehrsitz (ninth) among the top ten in their first championship appearance with McLaren.

The category features notable new names, including Logan Sargeant, the former Formula 1 driver making his debut with Proton Competition, and Victor Martins, former FIA Formula 3 champion, joining the Alpine Endurance Team program.

On-track action resumes on Friday, April 17th, with two 90-minute free practice sessions. Qualifying and Hyperpole will take place on Saturday, April 18th, starting at 15:10 local time, and the six-hour race will begin on Sunday, April 19th, at 13:00.

WEC Prologue 2026

Pos	Pos. class	class	#	drivers	team	brand	car	time	Gap
1	1	HYPERCAR	#50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari	Ferrari 499P	1:31.177	-
2	2	HYPERCAR	#83	Yifei Ye Robert Kubica Philip Hanson	AF Corse	Ferrari	Ferrari 499P	1:31.303	+0.126
3	3	HYPERCAR	#51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari	Ferrari 499P	1:31.375	+0.198
4	4	HYPERCAR	#20	Robin Frijns René Rast	BMW M Team WRT	BMW	BMW M Hybrid V8	1:31.709	+0.532
5	5	HYPERCAR	#36	Frédéric Makowiecki Jules Gounon Victor Martins	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine	Alpine A424	1:31.872	+0.695
6	6	HYPERCAR	#35	António Félix Da Costa Charles Milesi Ferdinand Habsburg	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine	Alpine A424	1:31.876	+0.699
7	7	HYPERCAR	#94	Loïc Duval Malthe Jakobsen Théo Pourchaire	Peugeot Totalenergies	Peugeot	Peugeot 9X8	1:32.106	+0.929
8	8	HYPERCAR	#15	Kevin Magnussen Raffaele Marciello	BMW M Team WRT	BMW	BMW M Hybrid V8	1:32.204	+1.027
9	9	HYPERCAR	#8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota Racing	Toyota	Toyota TR010 Hybrid	1:32.409	+1.232
10	10	HYPERCAR	#93	Paul Di Resta Stoffel Vandoorne Nick Cassidy	Peugeot Totalenergies	Peugeot	Peugeot 9X8	1:32.468	+1.291
11	11	HYPERCAR	#7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Nyck De Vries	Toyota Racing	Toyota	Toyota TR010 Hybrid	1:32.487	+1.310
12	12	HYPERCAR	#007	Harry Tincknell Tom Gamble	Aston Martin Thor Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Valkyrie	1:32.593	+1.416
13	13	HYPERCAR	#38	Earl Bamber Sébastien Bourdais	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	1:32.613	+1.436
14	14	HYPERCAR	#12	Will Stevens Norman Nato	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	1:32.888	+1.711
15	15	HYPERCAR	#19	Mathieu Jaminet Paul-Loup Chatin Daniel Juncadella	Genesis Magma Racing	Genesis	Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar	1:33.618	+2.441
16	16	HYPERCAR	#17	André Lotterer Luis Felipe Derani Mathys Jaubert	Genesis Magma Racing	Genesis	Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar	1:33.707	+2.530
17	17	HYPERCAR	#009	Alex Riberas Marco Sørensen	Aston Martin Thor Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Valkyrie	1:33.710	+2.533
18	1	LMGT3	#27	Ian James Zacharie Robichon Mattia Drudi	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	1:42.698	+11.521
19	2	LMGT3	#21	François Hériau Simon Mann Alessio Rovera	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari	Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo	1:42.749	+11.572
20	3	LMGT3	#10	Antares Au Thomas Fleming Marvin Kirchhöfer	Garage 59	McLaren	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	1:42.814	+11.637
21	4	LMGT3	#34	Peter Dempsey Salih Yoluç Charlie Eastwood	Racing Team Turkey by TF	Corvette	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	1:42.826	+11.649
22	5	LMGT3	#33	Blake Mcdonald Jonny Edgar Nicky Catsburg	TF Sport	Corvette	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	1:42.876	+11.699
23	6	LMGT3	#58	Alexander West Finn Gehrsitz Benjamin Goethe	Garage 59	McLaren	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	1:42.913	+11.736
24	7	LMGT3	#69	Anthony Mcintosh Parker Thompson Daniel Harper	Team WRT	BMW	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	1:42.959	+11.782
25	8	LMGT3	#61	Martin Berry Rui Andrade Maxime Martin	Iron Lynx	Mercedes	Mercedes-AMG LMGT3	1:43.051	+11.874
26	9	LMGT3	#32	Darren Leung Sean Gelael Augusto Farfus	Team WRT	BMW	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	1:43.078	+11.901
27	10	LMGT3	#54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari	Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo	1:43.142	+11.965
28	11	LMGT3	#23	Gray Newell Kobe Pauwells Jonny Adam	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	1:43.224	+12.047
29	12	LMGT3	#78	Tom Van Rompuy Hadrien David Esteban Masson	Akkodis ASP Team	Lexus	Lexus RC F LMGT3	1:43.247	+12.070
30	13	LMGT3	#79	Johannes Zelger Matteo Cressoni Lin Hodenius	Iron Lynx	Mercedes	Mercedes-AMG LMGT3	1:43.289	+12.112
31	14	LMGT3	#92	Yasser Shahin Riccardo Pera Richard Lietz	The Bend Manthey	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	1:43.312	+12.135
32	15	LMGT3	#87	Petru Umbrärescu Clemens Schmid José María López	Akkodis ASP Team	Lexus	Lexus RC F LMGT3	1:43.465	+12.288
33	16	LMGT3	#91	James Cottingham Timur Boguslavskiy Ayhancan Güven	Manthey DK Engineering	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	1:43.611	+12.434
34	17	LMGT3	#77	Eric Powell Ben Tuck Sebastian Priaulx	Proton Competition	Ford	Ford Mustang LMGT3	1:43.627	+12.450
35	18	LMGT3	#88	Stefano Gattuso Giammarco Levorato Logan Sargeant	Proton Competition	Ford	Ford Mustang LMGT3	1:44.414	+13.237