Toyota Gazoo Racing returns to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari for Round Two of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship after an opening round which saw the two Toyota GR010-Hybrids finish 5th and 6th. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa brought the #8 car home in 5th place followed by the sister #7 car piloted by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in the 6th.
Following the Qatar 1812KM Toyota sits 3rd in the Manufacturers’ Championship, two points behind BMW and 33 points behind Ferrari who finished 1st and 2nd in Qatar.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Principal and driver of the #7 car is looking forward to the challenges of the Italian circuit.
“We have good memories of Imola last year, which was our only victory for car #7” he said.” We had other chances to win during the season but at Imola we made the most of the changing weather conditions. It was easy to make a mistake but we got our strategy right and drove well. I feel Imola last year really brought us together as a team because we came back from a disappointing result in Qatar by getting stronger together and fining the opportunity to win.
“This season we also faced some challenges in Qatar so I hope we can come back with a similar team performance in Imola, hopefully with better weather conditions this time.”
Nick de Vries, who set the quickest time of all the Toyota drivers in Qatar and won at Imola in 2024 sees similarities between the situations the team faced in 2024 and in 2025.
“Imola last year was my first win with Toyota Gazoo Racing so it holds special memories for me,” said De Vries. “Our situation is quite similar to last season: we had a challenging start in Qatar but maximised our potential by executing a clean race and making the most of our opportunities.
“Hopefully last season’s result at Imola is a good omen and we can fight again at the front.”
Track action for the 6 Hours of Imola, round 2 of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, gets underway at FP1 at 1115 local time on Friday April 18. Qualifying starts at 1430 local time on Saturday April 18 with the lights going out for the race start at 1300 local time on Sunday April 20.
