Endurance Weekly: May 8th-14th

Benjamin Crundwell
3 hours ago
9 min read

Written by Benjamin Crundwell, Edited by Aaron Carroll

This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team take a look ahead to the third round of the GTWC EU (GT World Challenge EU) at Zandvoort, and take a look back at the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar championship at Laguna Seca, the third round of the NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) and the Spa 6 Hours. We also discuss all of the breaking news stories from the past week.

GTWC EU - Zandvoort - Preview

The GTWC EU series will hit the Dutch beaches this weekend as they return to Zandvoort, after a year away from the seaside track in 2024. The event will be the series's third of the year, and will be a sprint weekend. This means on Saturday the green flag will fall for race 1 at 15:00 local time (13:00 GMT), after the mornings qualifying session. Race 2 will kick off on Sunday, at 14:45 local time (12:45 GMT), again after another qualifying session in the morning.

Both races will last an hour, with a mandatory pitstop in the middle to allow for a driver change. Strategy may play a key role in the race, as overtaking can be difficult due to the track's small number of straights.

The weather should not cause problems for the teams, as both days are forecast to be sunny, with some light cloud, with no rain expected. This is in contrast to the previous GTWC EU race in Zandvoort (in 2023) when unpredictable weather caused chaos.

Having taken one win in the opening round of the season, Charles Weerts and Kelvin Van Der Linde are leading the overall drivers championship in the Team WRT No.32 BMW. 10 points behind them is Lucas Auer and Maro Engel in the No.48 Winward Racing Mercedes. Engel and Auer currently lead the sprint series drivers championship, after putting up a stoic defence in Brands Hatch to win their first race of the year.

Zandvoort is a prestigious race track, known to be one where drivers make the difference as they attack the quick turns and big kerbs. Recent track improvements to make the circuit suitable for Formula 1 in 2021 has benefited all series which race there.

Turn three gained a banking angle of 19 degrees, and the final corner has a banking angle of 18 degrees, helping extend the main straight so drivers have a better shot at overtaking into turn one. The bankings make the track extremely unique, as few European circuits have similar qualities.

The race can be streamed for free on YouTube.

WEC - 6 Hours of Spa - Review

Considered by some to be the best race of the Hypercar era, the 6 Hours of Spa was a thrilling race. Ferrari started strong with a 1-2-3 in Qualifying, and ended the first lap in 1-2-3, but not without drama as the No.51 Ferrari bumped wheels with the No.83 privateer Ferrari down the Kemmel straight.

As the leaders started to reach LMGT3 traffic, Frederick Makowiecki came alive, overtaking the fourth place Peugeot and a lap later, the No.83 Ferrari. Makowiecki earnt a big cheer from the crowd as he put his No.36 Alpine up to second place at Eau Rouge.

In dramatic fashion, seven cars scrapped with each other on the run down to Les Combes, a battle the No.15 would win to claim fifth place. A few corners later the No.6 Porsche dipped a tyre onto the gravel, followed by the No.12 Cadillac who picked up a puncture.

Near the end of the first hour, the No.83 Ferrari had engine problems from fourth place, having to go in and out the garage a few times. Although the problem was eventually fixed, the car was well out of contention.

Having gone from ninth to first, the No.46 was given a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, causing them to lose the lead the car had fought so valiantly to get. The same penalty was handed to the No.92 Manthey Porsche, and the No.15 BMW Hypercar.

Just after the three hour mark, Sean Gelael crashed the No.95 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3, after contact with the No.60 Mercedes, prompting a lengthy safety car. At this point in the race, the No.50 Ferrari still held the lead, followed by the No.36 Alpine, the No.51 Ferrari and the No.93 Peugeot.

Another safety car came out when the other United Autosports McLaren found the barrier. This safety car helped the No.20 BMW catch the No.50 and No.36, joining their battle, while the No.51 opened its lead up ahead.

Trying to overtake the No.50 Ferrari, the No.20 had a dramatic moment as the two went off the track in the last sector, and made contact before rejoining the track, fortunately not losing too much time. Later in the race the No.20 BMW would suffer a brake issue, ultimately ending its race.

In the final hour it was unclear who would be able to make it to the end of the race without a pitstop. The No.51 ended up having to pit from the lead with only 10 minutes remaining, but it had such a gap to second that he still came out leading, with a five second gap.

The order would stay as it was, with the No.51 Ferrari seeing the chequered flag first, followed by the No.50 Ferrari, and the No.36 Alpine. In LMGT3 the the No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari continued the domination, winning by over 30 seconds. The No.88 Ford Mustang finished second, ahead of the No.54 Ferrari.

IMSA - Laguna Seca - Review

In qualifying before the race, Dries Vanthoor took another pole position in Laguna Seca, outperforming his No.24 BMW Hypercar, and proving his excellent one lap pace. The No.24 car retained the lead in the first stint, as the two Porsches followed closely in second and third.

Early in the race, the Porsches swapped positions when the No.6 car made a mistake, allowing the No.7 to take second place. The No.7 Porsche was then free to try to reel in the leader.

Felipe Nasr in the No.7 Porsche crafted a brilliant overtake on the No.24, selling the dummy and then driving round the outside of the BMW in turn five, putting his Porsche in the lead with 110 minutes to go.

During the pitstops, the No.6 Porsche undercut both the No.7 and the No.24, putting it into the lead for the first time in the race. The lead didn’t last long however as the No.7 re-overtook it’s teammate.

A cautionless race was nearly spoiled when the No.120 Porsche put the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin in the wall, fortunately the Aston Martin was able to escape the gravel trap, losing six places in the process. Elsewhere, debris was left on the track when the No.60 Acura damaged his car by going off the track.

Nick Tandy in the No.7 Porsche came out in the lead after the final pitstop, but was overtaken by the No.6 immediately. The pair were first and second, but traffic was slowing them down, and bringing Dries Vanthoor back into contention, who was third place in the No.24 BMW.

The trio were nose to tail for a lot of the final stint, leaving spectators on the edge of their seat as one mistake, or traffic incident could change the course of the race.

On the final lap, the No.7 was looking for a run on the No.6, however was compromised by a slower GTD car. As he was compromised, this put the No.24 BMW alongside the No.7 into the final corner, the two made contact, putting the BMW off the track.

The No.6 won by the skin of its teeth, and the No.7 came home second. Dries Vanthoor managed to get his car back on track and keep third place. The order stayed as it was after the stewards decided no further action was necessary.

In GTD, ‘Roxy’, the No.77 AO Racing Porsche, finished first, earning it’s first golden tooth.

NLS 3 - Review

The iconic Grello car taking the pole and victory in NLS3 over the weekend fails to tell the tale of the thrilling race the Nürburgring treated us with on Saturday.

The No.911 Porsche, driven by Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preining, took pole by only six hundredths of a second over the No.14 Mercedes driven by Maro Engel and Fabian Schiller. This is an exceptionally small margin, especially considering the enormity of the 25.3 km (15.7 mile) race track.

The race saw Grello have to defend and attack against the No.14 GetSpeed Mercedes, both Falken Motorsport Porsches, the Scherer Sport Porsche and Audi and the Rinaldi Ferrari. The contest saw many position changes, but the No.911 came out of the pits in the lead after the final stint, and stretched the gap to 11 seconds before taking the chequered flag.

The No.14 Mercedes finished where it started, in second place, followed by the No.3 and No.4 Falken Motorsport Porsches. The No.34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin finished fifth, followed by the Scherer Sport Porsche and the Dinamic GT Porsche which came home in seventh, meaning there were five Porsches in the top seven.

Although the winning streak has been lost by Falken Motorsport, the Porsche manufacturer has won all three of the first three rounds of the NLS this year, they will strive to carry the momentum into the fourth round and later the Nürburgring 24 hours race in June.

Breaking News

WEC (World Endurance Championship)

Mercedes and Toyota reveal special liveries for the Le Mans 24 Hours

The green flag will fall for the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race in a month's time, and Toyota have announced the No.7 GR010-Hybrid will be sporting a retro livery to celebrate their first ever Le Mans entry 40 years ago.

Although their first entry was in 1985, the car pays respect to the beautiful 1998 Toyota GT-One. The car never won Le Mans, but came very close, leading with 90 minutes to go before a gearbox failure ended their race. A year later, Toyota suffered a similar fate when they picked up a puncture from the lead with a lap remaining.

The red and white No.7 car will be driven by Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi, while the No.8 car will be driven by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in the usual black livery.

Mercedes will return to Le Mans for the first time since 1999, and they are arriving in style. The German brand will run three “Silver Arrows” to respect their heritage. The design is alike to the Sauber-Mercedes C9 which finished 1-2 in 1989.

The No.60 car will be raced by an all Italian lineup, at the hands of Claudio Schiavoni, Matte Cressoni and Matteo Cairoli. Maxime Martin will make his Mercedes-Le Mans debut in the No.61, partnered with Martin Berry and Lin Hodenius, who is the youngest driver on the grid at just 18 years of age.

The final car will be piloted by the father-son duo of Brenton and Stephen Grove, and they’re joined by platinum rated driver Luca Stolz.

GTWC

Record 76 car entry list revealed for Spa 24 Hours

The SRO have revealed the biggest entry list to the Spa 24 Hours in the history of the race. The grid will be split into five classes: Pro, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Pro-Am. The Pro class will take the biggest cohort, with 21 entries, and the Pro-Am class will be the smallest, with seven entries.

10 manufacturers will take part in this year's race, one more than last year as Corvette are entering the race. The other American manufacturer taking part will be Ford, as HRT will be entering two cars, looking for their second 24 hour victory this year after their class win at the Daytona 24 Hours.

Team WRT have entered the fan favourite car: the No.46 BMW, which will be driven by Kevin Magnussen, Valentino Rossi and Rene Rast, the accumulation of talent across the three drivers will make them a serious front running contender.

Last year's winners, the No.7 Aston Martin will return, with Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen, no change to the driver lineup from last year. To win again, the crew will have to face fierce competition from the likes of the No.48 Mann-Filter Mercedes, piloted by Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Matteo Cairoli.

Porsche will challenge for victory with the No.18 Dinamic GT car of Matt Campbell, Bastian Buus and Mathieu Jaminet, and the No.22 Schumacher CLRT car driven by Ayhancan Güven, Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler.

The Verstappen.com Aston Martin will also race, in the hands of Harry King, Chris Lulham and Theirry Vermeulen. Instead of using the Ferrari 296 GT3 which they race in the GTWC Sprint Series, the team will drive an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO in the gold class.

The Spa 24 Hours can be streamed on YouTube from the 25th to the 29th of June 2025.

NLS

Max Verstappen seen testing under alias “Franz Hermann”

Four time Formula One World Champion, Max Verstappen was spotted testing a Ferrari 296 GT3 on the Nüburgring last Friday during the test session for the NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) race the following day.

Verstappen was driving the Verstappen.com car that is entered into the GTWC EU series, driven by Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen. Verstappen shared the car with Lulham, who was only a sim racer just two years ago.

Around midday the car was spotted being brought back into the paddock on a trailer, with no damage but grass on its tyres. There has been no official information whether this was a car failure, or one of the two drivers went off the road.

Verstappen may be looking to gain a license to race on the Nürburgring for later this year, or next. Furthermore, suggestions have been made that the F1 driver’s GTWC team, Verstappen.com, has been created for him to start racing in the GT world himself.

Verstappen has said multiple times that he wants to expand his racing into other series, rather than just sticking to F1.