6 Hours of Imola: Qualifying Top five start for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing delivered a determined performance to qualify both cars in the top five for the 6 Hours of Imola, the second round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

A hotly-contested qualifying among the 18-strong Hypercar field saw close competition and required a strong team effort to enable both GR010 HYBRIDs to start towards the front of the grid and give the reigning World Champion team a solid platform to accelerate its challenge for both titles.

Ryo Hirakawa’s impressive qualifying performance earned fourth and a second-row start in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley. Nyck de Vries was only 0.001secs behind in fifth in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.

That performance was the result of intense effort since second practice, which saw drivers and engineers working together to identify improvements, as well as analysing the tyre characteristics. Mechanics worked from early this morning to adjust the GR010 HYBRIDs for final practice, which took place in bright sunshine and allowed the team to prepare for qualifying, as well as optimise race set-up and compare the soft and medium tyres. The one-hour session was twice disrupted twice by red flags, reducing it by 17 minutes.

Nyck was nominated for qualifying duties for the second time this season, having earned seventh on the grid in Qatar, while Ryo was behind the wheel of the #8 in qualifying for the first time in 2025. In the two-and-a-half hours between third practice and Hypercar qualifying, engineers and the two drivers fine-tuned their approach to achieve maximum performance over one lap with new medium tyres and low fuel.

Finishing in the top 10 was the primary target in the 12-minute qualifying session, to reach the decisive Hyperpole. On medium tyres, both drivers hit that target with their first flying laps, and improved on their second to comfortably progress, with Nyck in fourth and Ryo just a fraction behind in sixth.

With only eight minutes until Hyperpole, drivers and engineers had little time to reflect before the shoot-out for the top grid positions began. Both cars again used the medium compound Michelin tyre for the 10-minute session and Nyck set his best lap on his first effort. Ryo improved on his second lap to put the #8 ahead of the #7 sister car by the smallest possible margin.

With both cars starting in the top five, the team now has a strong foundation to challenge for its first podium of the season when the race begins at 1pm CEST on Sunday.

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “As a team, I think we can be fairly satisfied with qualifying fourth and fifth here. We maximised our package, as you can see from the tiny gap between the two cars. I don’t think we could have done much better than that; we did a strong job to execute a clean qualifying. The gap to the front cars looks quite big over one lap but we will do our best with race pace, tyre management and strategy to challenge for the podium.”

Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “We put everything together in qualifying and achieved a solid result with fourth and fifth, so I am happy with the performance. Our best lap times in Hyperpole were so close, which shows how hard both Nyck and I were pushing. On a tight track like this, where overtaking can be difficult, it is a good benefit to be starting towards the front of the grid and this gives us a better chance for the race. I’m happy with how the weekend has gone so far, now let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

6 Hours of Imola Free Practice 3