WEC Season Preview: Ferrari LMGT3
- Aaron Carroll
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
After a consistent 2025, Vista AF Corse and Ferrari return to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) hoping to keep the same form in 2026 with an updated Ferrari 296 LMGT3.
In the LMGT3 class, Ferrari took just one victory for the season, with the No.21 on top in Spa. The same car was also second best at Le Mans.
However, it wasn't all about silverware for the No's 21 and 54. They managed to take consistent points - the only race both cars didn't score was Brazil - and ended up being the top manufacturer in class.
The No.21 was second in the championship, 14 points of the champions. The No.54 was slightly further down the pack in seventh.
The latter could have been higher however, Davide Rigon got the car a five-second penalty whilst they were in the lead of the race in the dying laps of the Lone Star Le Mans. They crossed the line first, but ended up in third place on the results sheet.
Same drivers, same consistency?
Both the No.21 and No.54 line-ups will be exactly the same as they were in 2025. The No.21 will be headed by pro driver Alessio Rovera, alongside Simon Mann and François Hériau.
Rovera became a factory driver at Maranello in 2021 after a very successful LMGTE Am season. Alongside Nicklas Nielsen and François Perrodo, he dominated his first ever WEC season, taking four victories, including a debut win at Le Mans for the Italian. Since he's followed that up with more GT victories with AF Corse, and a European Le Mans Series (ELMS) LMP2 Pro-Am title.
Mann was one of the top names in the Italian GT Championship from 2018-2021, winning two sprint titles and an endurance title in that span. Since, he's ventured into the WEC and Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS), alongside a few one-off races in IMSA. He has been an AF Corse Ferrari driver since day one, so he knows the team inside out. He's already started his season off well, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in the GTD class.
Hériau, the crews bronze driver started his racing career back in 2009 in the French V de V endurance prototype championship. He moved to LMP3 racing in 2016, winning the Gulf 12 Hours in 2017. He then did some LMP2 racing, before winning the LMP3 title in the AsLMS in 2023. More recently he's ventured into GT racing, which has become his main focus for 2026.
The No.54 returns to the grid with Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr.
Rigon is the crews Pro driver, with a massive wealth of experience backing him up. He started out in single seater racing, before catching the eye of Ferrari in 2011. Since then, he's been a simulator driver for their Formula One team. In between, he has driven every kind of Ferrari GT machinery in a multitude of championships.
Castellacci has a similar level of experience to Rigon, starting in single seaters before joining AF Corse in 2011. Outside of a handful of races in an Aston Martin, he has also solely been a Ferrari driver for the last decade and a half.
Flohr - the bronze driver - is a Swiss businessman, and owner of VistaJet (the title sponsor of Ferrari's LMGT3 effort). The 66 year-old has been racing since 2013, and has been a driver in the WEC's GT ranks every year since 2017.
Evolving their chances with a 296 GT3 Evo
The 296 GT3 Evo brings a host of upgrades to the already well proven 296 generation of race cars for Ferrari.
It's still powered by the same V6 engine, pushing out just under 600 horsepower (subject to Balance of Performance adjustments).
The main changes come to the bodywork of the car. The front bonnet of the car has been redesigned to allow for two new air vents to enhance brake and engine cooling, which will be imperative for the hotter races during the year.
Ferrari also say the updated car is 'is distinguished by enhanced aerodynamic responsiveness, increased setup flexibility, and improved reliability and drivability'.
This evolution of the 296 GT3 has already proven itself as a reliable car. Antonio Fuoco, Lilou Wadoux and Mann drove it to victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, one of the toughest challenges for a car on the endurance racing calendar.
Fuoco was able to push the car to it's absolute limit in the closing stages to take the victory despite multiple setbacks during the race.
Ferrari come into the 2026 season looking like one of the strongest contenders for the LMGT3 title, but only time will tell. That being said, the two Vista AF Corse crews seem ready and raring to go for the season.
I was going through a few casual threads and noticed how people from Bangladesh often drop different links while discussing everyday online habits, and at one point 1xbet bd came up in between other mentions without much explanation, so I briefly looked at it just to understand the context, and it seemed like one of those sites people open occasionally, which is probably why it appears in conversations without being the main focus.
The WEC Ferrari LMGT3 season preview is fascinating, made even more exciting by playing geometry dash bloodbath