The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) will bring another capacity 47-car field to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari for the 2026 4 Hours of Imola. A total of 139 drivers from 29 countries will compete across LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am, LMP3 and LMGT3. Seven Italian drivers and five Italian-entered cars will also contest their home event.
Imola will host the third round of the season on Sunday, 5 July, as several championship battles continue to develop following the opening races in Barcelona and Le Castellet.
United Autosports leads competitive LMP2 field
Eleven cars will contest the headline LMP2 category, with United Autosports arriving as the championship leader. Griffin Peebles, Grégoire Saucy and Ben Hanley claimed podium finishes across the opening two rounds. Most notably, they secured United Autosports’ first overall ELMS victory since 2023 at Le Castellet and moved to the top of the standings.
Meanwhile, Nick Yelloly will return to the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson after missing the previous round. He will join Kuba Smiechowski and Tom Dillmann, who recently celebrated another LMP2 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Inter Europol’s No. 34 crew also enters Imola with strong momentum. Reshad De Gerus and Bijoy Garg hold second in the championship after finishing as runners-up in both Barcelona and Le Castellet. They also claimed second at Le Mans behind their Inter Europol teammates.
However, reigning champions Forestier Racing by Panis will seek a response after dropping to third in the standings. Esteban Masson, Oliver Gray and Louis Rousset failed to finish at Le Castellet, although their pole position earned them one point. Gray and Masson won at Imola during their 2025 championship campaign, giving the team confidence ahead of its return to the Italian circuit.
Rinicella targets home podium with IDEC Sport
Valerio Rinicella will represent Italy as the only home driver in the LMP2 category. The Italian will share the No. 18 IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson with Laurents Hörr and Jamie Chadwick. Two fourth-place finishes have given the crew a consistent start, but Rinicella will now target his first podium of the season at home.
IDEC Sport will also field its second entry, while Proton Competition, Vector Sport, Nielsen Racing, Algarve Pro Racing and CLX Motorsport complete the 11-car field. With several teams showing race-winning pace during the opening rounds, small margins could decide the LMP2 contest at Imola.
Duqueine holds narrow LMP2 Pro/Am advantage
The LMP2 Pro/Am category will feature 12 cars, with Doriane Pin, Richard Verschoor and Giorgio Roda leading the standings for Duqueine Team. The No. 30 crew has claimed two podium finishes, including one from pole position, and holds a five-point advantage over the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca.
Ferrari factory driver Antonio Fuoco will race at home in the AF Corse entry alongside François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Enzo Trulli will also represent Italy in the category. The son of former Formula 1 race winner Jarno Trulli already claimed an ELMS victory in Barcelona with Algarve Pro Racing teammates Malthe Jakobsen and Michael Jensen.
Elsewhere, Le Castellet winners Alex Quinn, James Allen and Kriton Lentoudis will pursue another victory in the No. 27 Nielsen Racing Oreca.
Louis Delétraz will also return to the No. 99 AO by TF entry alongside PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron after missing Le Castellet. The trio won at Imola in 2025 before securing the LMP2 Pro/Am championship, and they will aim to repeat that performance as they attempt to climb the standings.
Inter Europol carries LMP3 lead into Italy
Ten cars will compete in LMP3, including Italian team Eurointernational and home driver Matteo Quintarelli. Alex Bukhantsov, Chun Ting Chou and Henry Cubides Olarte lead the championship in the No. 13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Toyota. They followed a Barcelona podium with victory at Le Castellet and now hold a nine-point advantage.
Round-one winners Alvise Rodella, Jose Fernandes Cautela and Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen sit second in the No. 5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier.
The Imola entry list also includes two driver changes. Louis Iglesias will replace Bruno Ribeiro in the No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier and join Paul Lanchère and Alexander Jacoby.
Furthermore, Quentin Antonel will miss the Italian round. As a result, Thomas Imbourg and Nick Adcock will contest the race as the only two-driver LMP3 crew in the No. 68 M Racing Ligier.
DKR Engineering, Team Virage, Racing Spirit of Léman, Ultimate and R-ace GP complete the field.
Six manufacturers contest largest class
LMGT3 will form the largest class at Imola with 14 entries from six manufacturers. Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche will all compete, creating a diverse production-based field.
Three cars will race on home ground: the No. 50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari, the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG. Davide Rigon and Riccardo Agostini will also compete in front of their home supporters.
Kessel Racing leads the standings after Takeshi Kimura, Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Serra won at Le Castellet in the No. 57 Ferrari. The Swiss team holds 40 points and a nine-point advantage over Barcelona winners Matt Kurzejewski, Thomas Sargent and Richard Lietz in the No. 75 Proton Competition Porsche.
Meanwhile, Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron and David Perel hold third for Spirit of Race. They sit two points ahead of both the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette and the No. 23 United Autosports McLaren.
Driver changes reshape LMGT3 line-ups
Two teams have adjusted their LMGT3 line-ups ahead of Imola. Harry King will replace Joel Sturm in the No. 77 Proton Competition Porsche and join Bankcy and Huub van Eijndhoven. Meanwhile, Klaus Bachler will also enter the field in place of Thomas Preining. The Austrian will share the No. 54 High Class Racing Porsche with Max Moritz and Anders Fjordbach.
Several members of the winning 2025 Imola crew will return with different line-ups. Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Hiroshi Koizumi claimed TF Sport’s first win of its title-winning season in the No. 82 Corvette.
Eastwood will now compete in the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette alongside Blake McDonald and Alec Udell. Andrade, meanwhile, will drive the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG with Sergio Sette Câmara and Ameerh Naran.
Al-Khelaifi pursues third consecutive pole
Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi has emerged as one of the strongest LMGT3 qualifiers during the opening stages of the season. The Team Qatar by Iron Lynx driver secured pole position in both Barcelona and Le Castellet. He will now target a third consecutive pole and his first ELMS podium alongside Julian Hanses and Maxime Martin in the No. 62 Mercedes-AMG.
The No. 59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin, No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and No. 86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo complete the field.
With a capacity grid and close championship contests across all four categories, the 4 Hours of Imola will provide another important test as the 2026 ELMS season approaches its halfway stage.
