5 key takeaways from the WEC 6 Hours of Spa
- Aaron Carroll
- 5 hours ago
- 5 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
The thrilling third round of the FIA WEC (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile World Endurance Championship) saw Ferrari take victory in both classes after six hours of racing in an action-packed race (view the full race report here), with many storylines emerging. Here are the five key things you should keep an eye on as the 24 Hours of Le Mans approaches.
Ferrari’s dominance won’t last forever
Ferrari did, of course, take the overall spoils in Spa, taking second place too. But it certainly didn’t feel so certain for the majority of the race.
After Frederick Makowiecki’s early charge up the field in the No.36 Alpine, it never felt like it was a guaranteed Ferrari victory, as it may have done for periods in Qatar or Imola. There seemed to be challengers coming from every direction, with Peugeot and BMW in the mix too, with both Toyotas charging up the pack.
As the season has progressed, it has seemed that the competition has gotten closer and closer to the 499P’s, with the Italian marque locking the podium out in Qatar, but not having such a clear path in Imola.
The No.6 Porsche led the race for a period, and Sebastian Buemi in the No.8 Toyota was able to keep the No.50 car behind for almost a full stint, despite Antonio Fuoco’s best effort to get past the Swiss driver ahead.
Then we got to Spa and it was even closer again, with Alpine narrowly missing out on second place and possibly a win, had the race gone slightly differently.
That’s not to say that Ferrari won’t win in Le Mans, however it is impossible to ignore how close the chasing pack has gotten than the two previous races.
Alpine can challenge for a home victory
Alpine’s season got off to a slow start in Qatar, finishing 13th and 14th with the two cars, and not showing too much overall development from last season.
In Imola, however, the No.36 car managed a third place finish, the A424’s second WEC podium. The sister No.35 did only manage 13th, but it was clear to see there was some pace to be extracted from the car.
Last weekend in Spa was where everything came to fruition. Both cars looked considerably quicker than they had previously, all race long, especially the No.36, which remained in contention for the win all race long and proved to be Ferrari's biggest challenger.
Heading into the blue ribbon event at Le Mans, Alpine go in with the pace and the motivation. Both cars retired at last year's event with engine issues, so the entire Alpine Endurance Team will be eager to make up for the lacklustre result from 2024.
Alpine really do seem to have all the ingredients to go for gold at Le Mans, and become the first French winner of the great race since Peugeot in 2009.
Peugeot’s pace, and what could have been
The Peugeot TotalEnergies team’s WEC Hypercar program up to this point has not gone to plan. In its first two full years of racing in the championship, the 9X8 has finished fifth and sixth in the 2023 and 2024 championships respectively.
The 2025 season began at the 1812 km of Qatar, and Peugeot went into the season with high hopes. During the offseason they used one of their Evo Joker updates, in an attempt to launch the two 9X8s up the field. It didn’t go entirely to plan, the cars finishing ninth and 12th. Some points to start off the year, but not what the French marque would have hoped.
They managed the same result in Imola, ninth and 12th. Rumors began to circulate online about the future of the Peugeot Hypercar program, with the lack of success from the team.
In Spa however, they showed some brilliant pace. They qualified in fourth and seventh, the first time this season that both cars made it through to hyperpole. The start of the race was promising too.
Both the No.93 and No.94 were in the mix to begin with, but then the race fell apart. The No.94 was forced to retire with suspension issues, and bad strategy decisions by the team meant the No.93 failed to score any points in 11th.
Despite the season's worst result, the Peugeot team showed a lot of promise heading into Le Mans and the rest of the season.
Aston Martin's continued improvement
The all-new Aston Martin Valkyrie has lit up the eyes and ears of fans across the world in its first three races in the WEC, but it hasn’t quite done so with the timing sheets.
In qualifying for the Qatar 1812 km, the No.007 was 3.2 seconds slower than the best time set in the session. The race didn’t get much better either, the No.007 retired with a transmission issue and the No.009 finished 23 laps behind the leaders after its door flew off early in the race, among other mechanical problems.
Mechanical problems aside, it was clear both Valkyries would have finished way behind the rest of the field. The difference between the first round in Qatar and the second round in Imola lay in reliability and consistency.
Yes, they finished 17th and 18th, and four laps off the leaders, but it was a much improved showing from Qatar, with neither car reporting any mechanical issues either.
In Spa, they kept on the same trajectory. The two cars still finished 13th and 14th, the last two Hypercars without any major issues. Despite this, it was — again — an improvement. The No.007 managed to finish on the lead lap, with the No.009 not far off it.
Heading into Le Mans, if Aston Martin keep up the same trajectory of improvement, they could be in the fight to score some good points. However, the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be by far the cars biggest test to date.
Qualifying pace doesn’t mean everything
On Friday evening after qualifying, discussions began across the world asking the same question: ‘Where did Toyota’s pace go?’. The two GR010-Hybrids qualified 15th and 16th, ahead of only the two Aston Martins, and almost two seconds away from the quickest time in the session.
But as soon as the race began, they began to slowly climb the order. The main thing was how both the No.7 and No.8 stayed out of trouble and in the race. They benefitted from issues, from the likes of the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari and the No.94 Peugeot, eventually ending the race fourth and seventh. A very solid points haul for a team heading into the race with low confidence.
With the high level of competition in the WEC at the moment, it is almost impossible to count anyone out from a good result, and Toyota proved that in Spa. Sure, qualifying on pole does make the race an awful lot easier than qualifying 15th, but it doesn’t guarantee anything.
The same effect will be multiplied next time out at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with everything up for grabs on arguably the most competitive top class grid the race has ever seen.
