C8.R Corvette took a surprise victory in GTE Pro after Antonio Fuoco was forced to bring the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo to the pits with just 2m30s to go for a splash and dash.

It marked Corvette’s first victory in the WEC since the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours and the first since it joined the series full-time at the start of the current season.

Fuoco and Miguel Molina had inherited the lead from the pole-sitting sister car of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, which was hit with a five-second stop/go penalty in the penultimate car for failing to transfer data from their car after a pitstop.

Ferrari was seemingly on its way to a victory on its home turf, having led the race from the beginning until both its car had to pit late with just minutes to go, allowing Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy to score a popular victory in the #64 C8.R.

Calado and Pier Guidi eventually secured the final spot on the rostrum in third after Pier Guidi emerged on top in a long battle with the #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre for which Estre was hit with a drive-through penalty.

That dropped Estre and Michael Christensen to fourth, ahead of the sister #93 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Gianmaria Bruni and Frederic Makowiecki.