Ferrari comes out swinging at WEC Prologue test

The 2026 FIA WEC season is finally underway, with the delayed Prologue test day held at Imola on Tuesday ahead of Sunday’s season opener.

There were plenty of headlines and talking points from the 480 minutes of track time in grey, changeable conditions, but the standout was Ferrari’s pace in Hypercar. The Italian brand’s 499Ps ended up occupying first, second and third on the timing screens in both sessions. The best time of the day – a 1m31.177s – was set by Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 during the afternoon, bettering Antonio Giovinazzi’s 1m31.586s from the morning aboard the No. 51.

It is, however, way too early in the week to make any judgment on how the race will play out. The BoP table isn’t public, the new-for-2026 system has not yet been explained (though it has been reported that plans to introduce Success Ballast have been shelved), and it makes no sense to show your hand on a test day. Ferrari is, of course, keen to come out swinging for the fences at home to start the season, though, so it should come as no surprise to see them at the top.

While the weather was far from ideal, they did provide a chance for all the teams with Joker updates, or, in the case of Genesis, a brand-new car, to sample their machinery in dry, damp, and wet conditions throughout the day.

Best of the rest across the test was the No. 20 WRT BMW. Its best time was a 1m13.375s during the afternoon, set by Robin Frijns. But it wasn’t a fault-free outing for the German factory team, as the No. 15 M Hybrid V8 underwent an engine change in the morning after just 25 laps. It did at least make it out in the Afternoon Session and finish up eighth in the times, but over the course of the day, the car still completed 131 tours of the fabled anti-clockwise circuit.

Aston Martin THOR team had it worse, though. Its No. 009 Valkyrie ended up with the fewest laps – 53 – after Marco Sorensen had a sizeable off into the barriers on the approach to the Tamburello chicane before the lunch break. The Dane was cleared after checks in the medical center post-incident. 

The car, however, suffered more than just front, left-side and rear bodywork damage, with the team discovering that the tub will need changing. A full rebuild around a replacement chassis is underway, and the team has two off-days to regroup before first practice.

“It’s far from ideal to have an incident like this,” Sorensen said after the day’s running. “I’m happy that if it happened, it happened in the Prologue, so we have time to fix the car before the race. We just have to keep moving forward. It didn’t go well, but it happens.

“We had a car that was up there in mixed conditions, so that looked positive,” he added when asked about the team’s wider outlook. "Now we are coming here to be in the race, and last year we knew a lot of work needed to be done. We still have work to do, but it’s a different game. We go into the weekend thinking we can win.”

As for the other brands in the field, the two Alpines enjoyed a strong afternoon, setting 1m31.8s to slot into fifth and sixth spot in the combined times. Jules Gounon, who just last weekend raced at Paul Ricard in GT World Challenge Europe while severely sick with food poisoning, was the quickest driver from Les Bleus’ roster, with a 1m31.872s in the No. 36.

The new GMR-001s held their own in their first 'proper' FIA WEC session. James Moy/Getty Images

“We are really happy, the cars ran well in wet and dry,” Alpine team boss Philippe Sinault said. “It was our first time here with the new (aero) package and all the other teams. 

“We worked a lot on the car set-up because the circuit is really particular, as you have to chew the curbs. We focused on that and optimized the time. One step is down, now we have to focus on the race, the race event starts now, and we have a good base.”

Genesis Magma Racing's progress in its first showing at an FIA WEC-organized session was closely monitored by all on hand. The sleek-looking pair of GMR-001s ran all day steadily, completing just over 350 laps in total.

The two Korean prototypes did not set any head-turning lap times, but they were not a million miles off the benchmark set by Ferrari. The best time was a 1m33.618s set by Mathieu Jaminet.

“It went pretty well,” Jaminet said. “Obviously, we faced some issues here and there, lost a bit of track time, but I would say that’s pretty much normal as a newcomer. For a new program, I feel like we’ve done a lot of laps with both cars. We’ve seen our limitations already. It was good to run with our competitors for the first time.”

While it was a tough day for The Heart of Racing’s Hypercar operation, it was all smiles on the LMGT3 side of its garage. Newly-named Hypercar reserve driver Mattia Drudi topped the category’s combined ranking with a 1m42.698s in the No. 27 Vantage. Vista AF Corse’s 296 LMGT3s were quick all day too, with Alessio Rovera’s best afternoon time just 0.051 off Drudi in the No. 21 example.

Meanwhile, Garage 59 wasted no time in making an impact in its new surroundings. The British team, which has taken over McLaren’s GT3 slots on the grid for 2026 while United Autosports prepares to take the Woking brand to Hypercar in 2027, set the third-fastest time. Thomas Fleming, aboard the team’s No. 10 GT3 Evo, was the pace-setter with a 1m42.814s. 

There were a few minor incidents across the day involving LMGT3 cars, including a red flag when Jose Maria Lopez stuck the No. 87 Lexus in the gravel at Acque Minerali and an FCY after Manthey’s Yasser Shahin had a similar moment. Sean Gelael also caused a caution period at Rivazza 2 in the No. 32 WRT BMW.

The next track action for the WEC teams is Free Practice 1 on Friday morning at 10:15 local time.

RESULTS (COMBINED)