Here we are at the beginning of 2025 and another great season of the FIA World Endurance Championship is on the horizon. The season will have the same layout as last year starting in Qatar and ending on the same peninsula in Bahrain. The first on-track action of this season is traditionally the Prologue, two days of testing right before the season starts. It will be followed by the first race of the year - 1812 km of Qatar, surprisingly on Friday not to interfere with the start of Ramadan. Next up will be 6 Hours of Imola in April and traditionally 6 Hour of Spa in May. The 24 Hours of Le Mans with its Test day will take place over two weekends in June. After that the teams will travel to Sao Paulo for a 6 hour race. Two month summer break will flow by and Lone Star Le Mans will be on the schedule at the start of September and the season will end traditionally with a 6 hour race at Fuji and 8 hour race at Bahrain in November.
LMH - GOLDEN ERA TURNS INTO PLATINUM
Hypercar regulations have proved to be a great concept for manufacturers and together with LMGT3 as the class designated for AM drivers there is another capacity grid. There will be 36 cars on the grid this year, evenly split into both classes. There are familiar faces on the grid, teams switching equipment and exciting newcomers, but some have withdrawn after last year. Aston Martin is joining with Valkyrie - the car that should have been in the class from the first season. The programme was stopped by the factory, but revived last year by Heart of Racing Team to bring the V12 monster into action.
This year there won't be any Lamborghini on the grid in either class - the Italian make focusing on the Michelin Endurance Cup (part of IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship) with its Lamborghini SC63 after a split with Iron Lynx as their partner team for both LMH and LMGT3. Another missing team is Isotta Fraschini, which paused the program after Sao Paulo last year and never returned to action, joining Glickenhaus and Vanwall from the privateer teams with the same fate.
As a proof of the interest Hypercar/LMDh regulations are bringing, there are even more manufacturers in the pipeline with Genesis announcing their programme for 2026, Ford joining in 2027 and McLaren hopefully getting ready for an announcement at Le Mans, as part of celebrating 30 years from their win. We all can look forward to the future and where that will take us.
There is no better way to start the preview than with last year's winners of the drivers championship - Porsche Penske Motorsport and the trio of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer dominated last year's championship, getting two wins, scoring point in every race of the season and only twice finishing out of the top 4. For this year Lotterer is gone and only Vanthoor and Estre will do the whole season and in the longer races they will be joined by Matt Campbell. The other car will have a different line-up as well - Michael Christensen is the only remaining driver from last year, but he will be joined by Julien Andlauer, who proved last year in the Proton Competition Porsche, that he is worth the factory deal, and for the endurance races by Mathieu Jaminet. The car has new suspension components for this year, using one of their Jokers to update the car built to LMDh regulations. The car already showed it is both fast and reliable, winning last year's drivers championship in FIA WEC and in IMSA, gaining Le Mans invitation in the process for a third car. This year the team proved they are going to be a serious effort by winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona again.
#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 - Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen, Mathieu Jaminet
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 - Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell
The world championship for drivers was dominated by Porsche, but the Manufacturers title was much closer. Thanks to Sebastien Buemi's final stint in Bahrain, where he managed to get into the lead in his #8 Toyota and win the race ahead of #5 Porsche, Toyota has taken the title only by 2 points. Le Mans win slipped out of their hands, but both cars got to the top step of the podium during the season, #7 once and #8 twice and both cars featured multiple times on the other podium places. This year they are back with the same car and line up. The proven Toyota GR010 - Hybrid is the most successful vehicle since the Hypercar ruleset got into action and it remains competitive to this day. The livery remains black with only small changes to the design.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota GR010 - Hybrid - Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota GR010 - Hybrid - Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Repeating what they did in their first WEC season, Ferrari managed to win Le Mans again, beating Toyota and Porsche to the crown after a close race, where 9 cars from 4 manufacturers finished on the lead lap. The rest of the season had some ups and downs - the factory team was close in some races, but wrong strategy calls, technical issues and events out of their hands prevented them from winning. The car was dominant in Imola, but staying on slicks during rain dropped them out of the podium positions. At Spa the race resumed after a red flag for the remaining time and the Ferraris were dropped behind Porsches, who made their pit stops before the red flag. And at COTA technical issue took the leading Ferrari out of the running, the only redemption being the victory for the privateer AF Corse Ferrari, giving Ferrari first WEC win apart from Le Mans. This year they will again be title contenders and with a small update after last year's Le Mans to the cars brakes and cooling, the car should perform better. As for the driver line up, Ferrari opted for stability, retaining all 6 drivers for the program.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse - Ferrari 499P - Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
#51 Ferrari AF Corse - Ferrari 499P - Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Next up in the manufacturers' championship finished the first newcomer of 2024 - Alpine. Although there was double retirement at Le Mans, both caused by issues with turbocharger, it was the first new car to get points in Qatar and managed to get another 3 top 5 finishes by the end of the season to finish in 4th place in the standings. Their season highlight was a 3rd place at Fuji. Engine control update after Le Mans improved reliability of the car and there is a joker upgrade for this season, which should solve the issues completely. There are changes in the line ups with Jules Gounon promoted from the reserve role and Frédéric Makowiecki coming from Porsche, replacing Nicolas Lapierre and Mathieu Vaxiviere.
#35 Alpine Endurance Team - Alpine A424 - Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi
#36 Alpine Endurance Team - Alpine A424 - Jules Gounon, Mick Schumacher, Frederic Makowiecki
Closely following Alpine in last year's championship was BMW. Having to retire from Le Mans due to crash damage to both cars was hard for the team, mainly because the cars showed real pace with Dries Vanthoor topping the first qualifying. The team recovered in the second half of the season to finish 5th in the championship with their best result being 2nd place at Fuji. For 2025 BMW has reduced the pool of drivers for LMDh programme and some of them are combining full season in IMSA with FIA WEC. The only change in the line up is Kevin Magnussen replacing Marco Wittmann, coming back to sportscars after his second spell in Formula 1. The car has received updates to its brakes, successfully implemented in Rolex 24 at Daytona, where the car was on pole and in contention for victory in the final hour.
#15 BMW M Team WRT - BMW M Hybrid V8 - Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Kevin Magnussen
#20 BMW M Team WRT - BMW M Hybrid V8 - Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns, René Rast
Returning for their third full season is Peugeot. The new winged car is yet to show its full potential, currently its best result being 3rd place at Bahrain. The car finished in 6th place in the championship, mostly finishing at the bottom of top ten. This year the car must prove it is able to contest for wins otherwise the investment might be too much for too little. With Nico Müller leaving, Malthe Jakobsen gets promoted to the #94 squad with Paul di Resta moving to #93. Last year Qatar was the best race for Peugeot, before retiring with 2 laps to go. Let's see if the circuit will suit the new car.
#93 Peugeot TotalEnergies - Peugeot 9X8 - Mikkel Jensen, Paul di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne
#94 Peugeot TotalEnergies - Peugeot 9X8 - Malthe Jakobsen, Loïc Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne
Last of the manufacturers returning from last year is Cadillac. Hertz Team JOTA is taking over the WEC operation from Chip Ganassi Racing and doubling its presence. After successfully campaigning two Porsches separately from the factory team, their win at Spa put their efforts in front of everyone's eyes and it is one of the reasons Cadillac chose this team to operate the cars in FIA WEC. Behind the wheel will be familiar faces from both Cadillac and JOTA while the car has had updated electronics, costing the team one joker.
#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA - Cadillac V-Series.R - Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens
#38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA - Cadillac V-Series.R - Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais, Jenson Button
The exciting newcomers are Aston Martin. First they were announced as one of the manufacturers for Hypercar in 2019 before pulling the plug on that program and focusing on Formula 1. Then Heart of Racing came along and pursued the program again, bringing the singing beast into FIA WEC back. The first V12 in a well-established championship since Aston Martin Vantage GT3 can compete with Cadillac for the prize of the best sounding car. The car has done lots of mileage in testing but it's not expected to be on the pace immediately. Last year it took new players in WEC half a season to be somewhat competitive, so it will be mainly a learning year for the team and drivers. The numbers go back to James Bond styling, typical for Aston Martin GTs and prototypes at Le Mans around 2010.
#007 Aston Martin Thor Team - Aston Martin Valkyrie - Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble, Ross Gunn
#009 Aston Martin Thor Team - Aston Martin Valkyrie- Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen, Roman de Angelis
Final two cars are not factory entries, but both of the efforts should not be underestimated. The speed of Proton's Porsche 963 surprised many last year, giving Julien Andlauer an opportunity to get a factory seat after his performances in the car over the season. Only Harry Tincknell is retained in the lineup from last year. The Ferrari made its name at Le Mans by leading the race in the early hours and continuing its form in the rest of the season, winning Lone Star Le Mans at COTA in the process. Robert Schwartzmann has been replaced by Phil Hanson in the #83.
#99 Proton Competition - Porsche 963 - Harry Tincknell, Nico Pino, Nico Varrone
#83 AF Corse - Ferrari 499P - Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson, Yifei Ye
LMGT3 - NO STONES UNTURNED
Going into the second year of LMGT3, there are changes everywhere (apart from Ferrari). As mentioned before, Iron Lynx have ended the relationship with Lamborghini and started a new partnership with Mercedes-AMG, bringing a new manufacturer to the grid.As the torque sensors were new to everyone, it took some time before the grid equalized with Porsche dominating the field, but after Le Mans the racing became much closer. This year everyone has one year under their belt and it is expected the spread of the field will be much smaller.
Starting with last year's champions and vice-champions, Porsche. Until WEC reached COTA, there was only one race where Porsche was beaten. With 5 races done, the wins were split equally between #91 and #92 (with one race won by BMW), winning Le Mans in the process (#91). This year though both Manthey cars will have different crews - Alex Malykhin has been upgraded to Silver and has ruled himself out of this category and Yasser Shahin left for BMW. After struggling last year with Lamborghini Iron Dames alingnes its strategy with ELMS and switches to Porsche. Another driver changing brands is Ryan Hardwick, coming from Ford.
#85 Iron Dames - Porsche 911 GT3 R - Célia Martin, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting
#92 Manthey 1st Phorm - Porsche 911 GT3 R - Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz
Coming up next is Ferrari. After a disappointing start to the season, both crews have stood on the top step of the podium - at Fuji and Bahrain, the last two races of the season - and the #55 finished in third place in the standings. There is only one small change in this camp - car #55 changes numbers to #21 to return to the number it has worn in the LMGTE days. Otherwise both lineups stay the same and continuity with experience might prove to be the decisive factor between winning and losing.
#21 Vista AF Corse - Ferrari 296 GT3 - François Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera
#54 Vista AF Corse - Ferrari 296 GT3 - Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon
Following team is Team WRT with the newly updated BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Last year they managed to start the season well with a win at Imola and podium at Le Mans, but the season was marred by retirements non-points finishes.Valentino Rossi returns for the second season with Ahmad Al Harthy and new BMW factory driver Kelvin van der Linde. Second car sees Yasser Shahin move from Porsche to BMW with Timur Boguslavskiy as their designated Silver driver and Augusto Farfus as the professional.
#31 The Bend Team WRT - BMW M4 GT3 Evo - Yasser Shahin, Timur Boguslavskiy, Augusto Farfus
#46 Team WRT - BMW M4 GT3 Evo - Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde
The last car to win a race in last season was Aston Martin. The Heart of Racing Team managed to beat the Porsche at COTA with other two second places during the rest of the season. This team returns in addition to their Hypercar squad, but only Ian James stays behind the wheel from last year. D'Station Racing do not return this year because of their focus on Japanese racing and they are replaced by Racing Spirit of Leman, stepping up from the European Le Mans Series.
#10 Racing Spirit of Leman - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO - Derek DeBoer, Eduardo Barrichello, Valentin Hasse Clot
#27 Heart of Racing Team - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO - Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi
There was promising speed from the McLarens operated by United Autosports over the course of the season, but the results did not reflect this. James Cottingham has improved by a lot during the season and returns this year to one of the cars. The other one sees Darren Leung move from BMW to the British marque.
#59 United Autosports - McLaren 720S GT3 Evo - James Cottingham, Sébastien Baud, Grégoire Saucy
#95 United Autosports - McLaren 720S GT3 Evo - Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Marino Sato
Two Corvettes return with TF Sport after a season full of ups and downs. They started with a pole in Qatar, but struggled with technical problems in some races. Improved form at the end of the season finished by double podium in Qatar though brings hope to the programme. The #81 crew returns, but #82 changes to #33 as Hiroshi Koizumi focuses this year on the European Le Mans Series. He is replaced in the car by none other than Ben Keating. The 2023 LMGTE champion could not stay away from WEC for much longer and returns with Jonny Edgar and Daniel Juncadella.
#33 TF Sport - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R - Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar, Daniel Juncadella
#81 TF Sport - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R - Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, Charlie Eastwood
Proton Competition arrives in Qatar after a disappointing season with the new car. Highlight of the season was a podium at Le Mans, but there were no other top 5 finishes before or after that. Worse still was the double retirement in the final race in Bahrain, where both cars suffered mechanical failures. At the start of the season there were bits like diffuser falling off the car, but Ford has quickly solved the issues. Since then the car has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the factory GTD PRO class and hopefully it will be more competitive in the WEC. Both of the cars have different line ups compared to last year only pro drivers are returning.
#77 Proton Competition - Ford Mustang GT3 - Bernardo Sousa, Ben Tuck, Ben Barker
#88 Proton Competition - Ford Mustang GT3 - Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato, Dennis Olsen
One final year remains for the Lexus RC-F GT3. The new car is already testing in Japan and Europe, but we'll have to wait for its race debut probably until next year. Until then the AKKODIS ASP team will battle with what they have available. Last year they seemed to be just filing the grid with their best results a 6th place at Le Mans, but in most other races the cars finished outside of points. The numbers on the cars stay, but there are changes in line ups in both of them. One of the changes is Ben Barnicoat replacing Kelvin van der Linde, bringing years of experience behind the wheel of the Lexus from IMSA, where he won the GTD PRO championship before.
#78 AKKODIS ASP Team - Lexus RC-F GT3 - Arnold Robin, Finn Gehrsitz, Ben Barnicoat
#87 AKKODIS ASP Team - Lexus RC-F GT3 - Petru Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid, Jose Maria Lopez
The new addition to the field is Mercedes. Iron Lynx switched to the German brand after struggling with Lamborghini last year. Without any experience with torque sensors apart from testing and IMSA season opener at Daytona the team might struggle, but the package is extremely competitive and successful all over the world. The #60 squad transitioned over from Lamborghini with Franck Perera replaced by Matteo Cairoli and #61 is a new line up with the boss of Proton Competition Christian Ried, who is coming out of retirement (again), paired up with Lin Hodenius and new Mercedes factory driver Maxime Martin.
#60 Iron Lynx - Mercedes-AMG GT3 - Claudio Schiavonni, Matteo Cressoni, Matteo Cairoli
#61 Iron Lynx - Mercedes-AMG GT3 - Christian Ried, Lin Hodenius, Maxime Martin
