WEC Preview: 6 Hours of Spa 2025
- Aaron Carroll
- 2 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
The third round of the WEC (World Endurance Championship) will take place this weekend at the 7 km (4.3 mile) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps deep in the heart of the Ardennes forest in eastern Belgium. The race will get underway on Saturday,10th May, at 2 pm local time.
Qualifying will take place the day before - Friday the 9th - at 2:40pm local time, in order to set the grid for the main race on Saturday.
Early weather forecasts for the event show dry conditions all weekend. Temperatures on Thursday and Friday look to be a stable 12 - 13 °C, with raceday being slightly warmer at around 15 - 16 °C.
However, despite what the forecasts may say, drivers will have to take into account the historically unpredictable nature of the weather at Spa, a track said to have its own climate due to the unpredictability of the conditions. For example, the race was called off 12 minutes before the scheduled finish in 2019, with snow falling on the track.
Hypercar
Coming off of back-to-back wins in Qatar and Imola, Ferrari will have to watch their backs, with seven other manufacturers aiming to dislodge them from their top spot.
The Ferrari AF Corse’s hopes may be dampened slightly by the BoP (Balance of Performance) updates released on Tuesday, as they receive the biggest weight increase (+12 kg) and the second biggest power decrease (-19 KW).
The other manufacturer heavily hit by the BoP was Toyota, taking on just an extra four kg in weight, but losing a massive 20 KW in horsepower. It isn’t all bad for the Japanese manufacturer, however, as they receive a power boost of 5.5% and 4.7% after 250 kph respectively - the biggest increases on the grid by 2%.
Despite the less-than-favourable BoP, both manufacturers should still be seen as contenders heading into the event. Ferrari are coming off the back of two wins to open the season, while Toyota are the series veterans, never to be discounted.
Elsewhere in the field, Porsche, BMW and Cadillac all received smaller changes to the two above. Each of the three gained two kg, seven kg and one kg respectively, while all three lost around 9 kW of power.
Porsche will hope to bounce back to their winning ways, after a rough start to the season for the factory Penske cars. The No.5 and No.6 showed signs of improvement in Imola, with the No.6 leading for a period, so hopes will be high as they attempt to continue the upward trend.
Porsche Penske also welcome some new drivers to their lineups, with Nico Müller replacing Matthieu Jaminet in the No.5 and Pascal Wehrlein replacing Matt Campbell in the No.6. Jaminet and Campbell will be busy racing in IMSA, while Wehrlein and Müller take the opportunity for some extra seat time ahead of their entry in the third Porsche 963 for Le Mans.
BMW have had a promising start to the 2025 season, with the M Hybrid V8 looking much more like a race-winning car than it did last year. However, they haven’t quite been able to match the pace of the Ferraris, leaving the car still winless in the WEC. BMW and WRT will hope to change that this weekend in Spa.
Cadillac struggled slightly in Imola after a disastrous weekend in Qatar, where the two Hertz Team JOTA cars hit each other on a safety car restart, running first and second on the road. Due to the incident, and being off the pace in Imola, the American brand’s season hasn’t fully got going yet, with it clear to all that there is more pace in the V Series R.
Back on the BoP table, Peugeot and Alpine have had very minimal changes to the cars. Alpine saw a one kg increase in weight and a 1 kW increase in power, and Peugeot standing alone as the one manufacturer with no changes from Imola.
Both French marques struggled for the most part last year, with Peugeot not showing much more promise this year. The two 9X8’s have finished 9th and 12th in both races this year. Alpine on the other hand, have improved from 2024, with the No.36 managing a third place finish in Imola. Nonetheless the two French manufacturers will be looking to score some good points this weekend.
Finally there is Aston Martin, and the new Valkyrie, which has significantly struggled in the opening two rounds of its WEC life cycle. Both the No.007 and No.009 cars have been clearly the slowest on the grid, with the team looking to use 2025 as a development year, to consistently improve the cars performance and reliability.
The Valkyrie received the biggest break in the Hypercar field, losing 16 kg and gaining 15 KW in power. The team will be hoping these boosts help propel the car closer to the rest of the field, and provide more crucial data points to improve the car for the rest of its debut season.
All in all, it is still unclear to anyone who will be on the top step of the podium come Sunday evening in Spa.
LMGT3
In LMGT3, 18 cars from nine different manufacturers will compete for the win in the always unpredictable GT class. All nine cars will received a power reduction in the BoP released on Tuesday, except Ford who are already running at the minimum power output for the Mustang LMGT3.
Heading into the event, the No.33 TF Sport Corvette leads the championship after their win in Qatar and a top ten finish in Imola. The No.33 crew, along with the sister No.81 TF Corvette, will receive a two kg weight break heading into the Spa round, as they look to hold their championship lead.
11 points behind them in the championship is the No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus, having finished fourth and third respectively in the first two events of the year. The weight of the RC F and the sister No.87 will stay the same heading into this round, as they look to take the challenge to Corvette in the championship.
Then there are the two United Autosports McLarens, the No.59 and No.95. The No.59 narrowly missed out on a win in Qatar, with a somewhat mediocre performance from both cars in Imola. The McLarens take an extra eight kg of ballast into this weekend, looking to finally take their elusive first victory in the WEC.
Porsche struggled somewhat in Qatar, coming off the back of a championship winning and Le Mans winning season. However they bounced back in Imola, with the No.92 car taking a narrow victory over the No.46 BMW. The 911 GT3 R will take one kg less into Spa, hoping to continue their winning momentum.
BMW came so close to tasting victory in Imola, with Kelvin Van Der Linde charging back from ninth in the order to come within metres of winning. Ultimately the South African and the No.46 could only manage second place. BMW Team WRT are another team looking to continue their good momentum, but they will have to do so with an extra 11 kg of weight.
The No.21 Ferrari was in the fight to make it a Ferrari sweep in both classes during the 6 Hours of Imola, but a collision with Valentino Rossi in the No.46 quickly took them out of the action. They and the sister No.54 take an 11 kg weight break into Spa, with the Vista AF Corse squad eyeing the top step of the podium.
Both the No.27 and No.10 Aston Martins have struggled slightly to start the 2025 WEC season. The Heart of Racing No.27 finished sixth in Qatar, but that has proved to be the best Aston Martin result in the first two rounds. They and the No.10 Racing Spirit of Leman car will hope to bounce back in the Ardennes, with a 10 kg weight decrease to help.
Ford and Proton Competition have struggled massively so far this year, with reliability troubles for the Mustang LMGT3, and overall lack of pace. There have been some good signs however, with flashes of pace from both the No.77 and No.88 during both races. They go into Spa four kg heavier, looking for some improved results.
Finally, we have Mercedes and Iron Lynx. Despite their triumphs in the ELMS (European Le Mans Series), the No.60 and No.61 LMGT3s somewhat resemble the position of Aston Martin in Hypercar. A new car to the WEC, that has been significantly off the pace for the entirety of the first two events. Similar to the pair of Valkyries, the pair of AMG LMGT3s will hope to improve performance every race.
Both Iron Lynx cars will have altered lineups for Spa, with the No.60 featuring Stephen and Brenton Grove instead of Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni alongside pro driver Matteo Cairoli. The No.61 will see Martin Berry replace Christian Reid.
Overall in LMGT3, it remains one of the most unpredictable classes in modern motorsport, with new challengers seeming to emerge every race. The GT class of the WEC is a must watch at the 6 Hours of Spa.
