Team WRT BMW surged to a last gasp win amid late incredible LMGT3 drama in a highly memorable WEC 6 Hours of Imola encounter.

It was one that had multiple plot twists that ended with the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 car of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung taking their first win of the 2026 season and continuing the six race streak in LMGT3 of there being a different winner at every race this season.

The #32 BMW started the race in a lowly 14th on the starting grid but soon became a contender thanks to faultless stints from Leung and Geleal before the experienced Farfus produced a dazzling display to make a decisive move on the Racing Team Turkey Corvette driven by Charlie Eastwood with less than 20-minutes of the race remaining.

Prior to that it didn’t look like the #32 BMW would be in a position to win at all, but a late incident at Turn One involving the #58 McLaren of Finn Gehrsitz re-set the race when the Safety Car was deployed.

As the race restarted, it was in fact the Turkish entered Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in the lead, via its decision at the final pit-stop to not take fresh Goodyear tyres. That meant Eastwood was promoted into the lead just ahead of Nicky Catsburg in the championship leading #33 TF Sport Corvette.

As the green flag flew, the BMW of Farfus was a lowly sixth but quickly passed the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche, the surviving #10 Garage 59 McLaren and the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang in just a few laps.

The flying Farfus then caught and passed Catsburg, before turning his attentions on Eastwood, who was powerless to resist the Brazilian veteran as he executed a decisive and robust move at Turn 10.

But Farfus could not rest even then. That was because following him through in to second place was an equally quick and aggressive Mattia Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, who recovered from the last Safety Car triggering incident with Gehrsitz’s McLaren that had given him a puncture.

Despite enormous pressure, Farfus held on to take the chequered flag by just 1.062 seconds to head Drudi home.

“These guys (Leung and Gelael) did a brilliant job, and I had a car advantage to some of the cars as they only half set (of new tyres),” said Farfus after the race.

“I got out of the pits in P6 or P7. The safety car took way longer than I expected, and I wanted to go racing, but the safety car was not cleaning up. It finally went green, and I knew that I had to make most of my new tyres.

“We knew we will not be the fastest car on the straight, so I didn't think it would ever be a move into turn one, So I had to maximise the infield so it was quite spicy. But it's racing it, so you need to go for the move if there is a gap, so I am very pleased and I think it was one of the finest stints I've done in my career.”

Eastwood and his teammates Peter Dempsey and Salih Yoluc finished third, while a late push from Davide Rigon put the #54 Ferrari 296 he shares with Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci fourth ahead of the #33 Corvette of Catsburg, Ben Keating and Jonny Edgar, which still extended TF Sport’s championship lead to 24 points, while Edgar maintains his four point advantage over his own teammate Nicky Catsburg.

The race had begun with a huge multi-car melee at the first corner and it was one which ultimately accounted for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang and the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes, while the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche pitted for repairs.

There was also drama for the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, as Gray Newell was forced off track by the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 and retired on the spot.

The #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari, which sat second in the points pre-race also failed to finish after an issue late in the race, meaning that it dropped down to fourth in the standings as a result.

Taking the Goodyear Wingfoot award at Fuji was Tom Fleming from the #10 Garage 59 squad. The rapid British ace drove several noteworthy stints over the coure of the event.