WEC Preview: 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
- Aaron Carroll
- 53 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Just a couple of weeks after the season opening 6 Hours of Imola, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) grid have already touched down in the Ardennes at the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium for the second round of the 2026 season.
Toyota Racing came out on top last time out with their No.8 car, after a race long battle with Ferrari and the No.51. After their season finale victory in Bahrain last year, Toyota are aiming to go three-in-a-row this weekend in Spa.
Entry list
Not too much has changed since the first round, however a few drivers will be returning to the grid after Imola's clash with the IMSA Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Will Stevens and Norman Nato in the No.12 Cadillac will be joined by Louis Delétraz for Spa. The Swiss driver is filling in for Alex Lynn, who is currently recovering from a neck injury, and plans to return for Le Mans. Jack Aitken will also make his debut in the sister No.38.
Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde will return to their No.15 and No.20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s after also competing in Long Beach.
In the LMGT3 ranks, the sole IMSA returnee is Dudu Barrichello in the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, who Kobe Pauwels filled in for last time out. Blake McDonald also continues his substitution for Ben Keating in the No.33 TF Sport Corvette, who is dealing with an injury.
Also in their attempt to run a different livery at all eight rounds of this season, the No.69 WRT BMW will be sporting a throwback to the 1986 Spa 24 Hour winning No.11 BMW 635CSi, driven by Altfrid Heger, Dieter Quester and WRT Hypercar sporting director Thierry Tassin.
Championship Standings
Hypercar
With only one round completed so far, it's still very early stages in the 2026 championship.
However Toyota have taken an early lead after their double podium (first and third) in Imola. They top the FIA WEC Manufacturers' Championship on 40 points.
Ferrari's second and sixth (plus a point for pole position) leave them on 27 points in second place. They'll be hoping for a better overall result, as a drive-through penalty for the No.50 hampered their final result in the opener.
BMW and Alpine sit third and fourth on 16 and 13 points respectively, with Cadillac (4) points and Aston Martin (2 points) in fifth and sixth. The final two places are filled by Peugeot and Genesis, neither of which scored in Imola.
Drivers standings wise, the No.8 does lead the way ahead of the No.51, No.7 and the rest of the points scorers.
LMGT3
The No.69 BMW tops the table in the GT class after their win, followed by the No.33 TF Sport Corvette who they had a close battle with. Then comes the No.92 and No.91 Manthey Porsches, and the rest of the points scorers from Imola.
Interesting there were 11 from Imola, as the pole-sitting No.10 car had a mechanical issue so they finished down in 13th, but still got their point for pole.
The track
The Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps needs no introduction as a circuit. The 7 km (4.3 mile) circuit winds it's way through the Ardennes forest.
Drivers will blast down the pit straight to start their lap, immediately focusing their eyes on a breaking point for turn 1, La Source. The tight right handed hairpin will be a key overtaking spot for the entire six hours, and also a pinch point, especially on lap 1.
From there it's flat out up hill to one of the most famous corners in the entire world. Eau Rouge and Radillion has a 17% incline. Hypercars should be flat out up here in qualifying, with the LMGT3s potentially just breezing out of the throttle.
From there it's a long flat out climb down the Kemmel straight. Race day here will see plenty of slipstreaming and side-by-side action heading into the Les Combes complex, and the highest point of the track.
The first part of this right-left-right complex is the most important overtaking point on the entire track. However, those overtaken here maybe be able to get a better exit than their opponent, as the drivers head back down the hill to Bruxelles.
The long right handed hairpin is another (albeit slightly less) overtaking point, and a good spot for a late braking send on the car in front. Exiting here, drivers will swing back over to the right hand side of the track as they set up Speakers Corner.
It's important to get a good exit out of the 90 degree left hander to aid the run down to Double Gauche.
Better known as Pouhon, the high speed double left-hander is crucial for both lap time, and potential track limits infringements.
Then it's another short blast before the drivers are back on the brakes for Les Fagnes. After the right-left chicane, then it's into the left handers at Campus and Stavelot, as we head into the high speed final sector.
This is also the lowest point on the track, with about 100 metres of elevation change between here and the peak at Les Combes.
There's a couple of kinks then, leading to the flat-out Paul Frere and Blancimont left handers. The latter, due to it's high-speed nature, has been the sight of some brave moves and unfortunate crashes in the past, so drivers will have to be careful here, especially in traffic.
Then it's hard on the brakes for the 'Bus stop' chicane, before it's carefully back onto the throttle on the pit straight to do it all over again.
The Hypercar pole time last year was a 1:59.6 (210.8 km/h average speed) by the No.50 Ferrari, while in LMGT3 it was the No.78 Lexus setting a 2:17.7 (183.1 km/h average speed).
Schedule
The race this week will be on Saturday rather than Sunday, meaning practice and qualifying move to Thursday and Friday respectively.
Free Practice 1 (FP1) will kick off the WEC weekend at 11:00 (10:00 BST) with FP2 later that day at 15:40 (14:40 BST). Both sessions will run for 90 minutes.
There'll be a final hour of practice at 10:10 local time (09:10 BST) on Friday before qualifying which gets underway for the LMGT3s at 14:30 (13:30 BST) and for Hypercars at 15:20 (14:20 BST).
The race itself gets underway at 14:00 (13:00 BST) on Saturday, running all the way through until 20:00 local (19:00 BST).
FP3, Qualifying and the race can all be viewed for a fee on FIAWEC+, with live timing available for FP1 and FP2.
Fans at the track, and watching from home can also expect to see action from the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux and the brand new Legends of Le Mans Series which delighted fans in Imola with LMP1, LMP2 and GTE cars of years gone.
