With the titles settled and the inaugural season for LMGT3 in the FIA WEC coming to a close this weekend, much of the attention for everyone involved in the category has shifted to 2025. And by the looks of it, the class is going to take on a significantly different look in Year 2, with a swathe of driver changes expected up and down the field (including the return of Ben Keating it seems) and new teams looking set to join the fun.
The principal reason behind the changes we’re set to see is the substantial rise in the budget required to go racing in the class.
The shift to air freight (following the delays in Qatar) has seen the logistical costs for teams rise by hundreds of thousands of Euros. Additional marketing fees for the use of onboard cameras are now in place for the teams and the costs associated with installing new 2025 number/information panels to cars represent another new line on the spreadsheet. And that’s without considering the general increase in travel and catering expenses. It’s all adding up…
As a result, going racing in LMGT3 in 2025 is likely to exceed the five-million Euro mark per car for many teams. The level of budget that drivers, teams and manufacturers now need to find to go racing in the class has become eye-watering.
So what do we know about the 2025 LMGT3 field at this stage and is the picture becoming clearer ahead of the off-season?
At Porsche, it looks set to be all-change after a dominant 2024 campaign for Pure Rxcing and EMA, as neither team looks set to return to race with Manthey in 2025.
Pure Rxcing is off to compete in the Asian Le Mans Series and (it hopes) the ELMS with a new LMP2 programme for Alex Malykhin and its partner, TF Sport.
Yasser Shahin meanwhile, told DSC back in Fuji that he was still mulling over a 2025 programme. As it stands, he’s looking at multiple opportunities elsewhere, including a move, like Malykhin, into LMP2 racing. He will though be testing a United Autosports McLaren and an Iron lynx Lamborghini on Sunday here.
The Iron Dames programme looks set to move from Lamborghini to Porsche, matching its ELMS effort with the 911 LMGT3.R 992. Changes to the driver crew are expected too in the wake of Sarah Bovy’s likely confirmation as a Silver-ranked driver for 2025. The team has been testing other ‘Dames’ in recent weeks.
The other Porsche looks set to see Ryan Hardwick take up the Bronze seat, after cutting his teeth in LMGT3 with Proton Competition and the Ford Mustang.
Amongst the brands where there is significant uncertainty, is Lamborghini.
With the Iron Dames programme moving to Porsche, the LMGT3 programme sits in the balance as Iron Lynx and the Italian brand discuss the future of the sister Hypercar programme in the FIA WEC.
Again, as explained in DSC’s earlier piece about Lamborghini’s options in prototype racing moving forward, there are multiple potential outcomes in LMGT3 too.
Lamborghini and Iron Lynx could continue to collaborate in LMGT3 into 2025, go their separate ways and/or Lamborghini could nominate a replacement LMGT3 team to fill the gap between now and the debut of its new GT3 car in 2026.
WRT’s Darren Leung tested at Portimão after the ELMS finale in the championship-winning Huracan (which he appeared to enjoy driving). If he does decide to make a switch, there appears to be no guarantee that the car will be run by the current team.
BMW meanwhile, will be back with WRT and the M4 LMGT3 Evo but the driver crews, at the time of writing, do not appear to be set in stone.
Much depends on whether or not Valentino Rossi will return for a second FIA WEC season, after a challenging campaign together with Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin.
The budget, backing and wider attention that the multiple MotoGP World Champion brings to the programme solves multiple problems for WRT and BMW here. If he decides not to continue, there’s a steeper mountain to climb for Vincent Vosse and co.
Ferrari‘s 296 LMGT3s look set to be bannered as Vista AF Corse in 2025, though change is possible in the driver ranks. The core clients, Simon Mann and Thomas Flohr look set to stay, though Mann’s test at Portimão in an LMP2 car is notable as he looks at what’s next on his racing journey.
Ford also looks set to be represented by the same team with its LMGT3 product in 2025. The Mustang LMGT3 effort went through its fair share of growing pains early in the season but the moves made to address its vulnerabilities, the podium finish at Le Mans and the recently announced addition of HRT to Ford’s customer stable are all reasons for optimism going forward.
The required budget is proving to be more of an issue for some of the teams and brands than others though. And it appears that Proton Competition is still very much in the weeds of putting together line-ups for the full season. A continuation of the #88’s revolving door, for instance, is not part of the plan.
Proton has also been linked with a move to another GT3 manufacturer for its WEC programme by industry sources, but at the moment it is keeping the faith as HRT steps aboard with Ford elsewhere. At the very least that lifts some of the pressure off Ried’s team, which to this point has acted as Ford’s sole representative in Europe.
It’s a similar situation at Lexus. After a difficult season for the ageing RC F LMGT3 in 2024, seats for 2025 are a tough sell with the replacement model not due to debut until 2026.
AKKODIS ASP has found gains here and there in the second half of the campaign though, has full support from the factory going forward and has been getting up to speed with the new car, playing an active role in its test programme.
Both ASP and Lexus are looking multiple seasons ahead, with Jerome Policand (ASP’s founder) telling DSC that he hopes that this project will morph into a “five-year” plan.
“It’s guaranteed to be a two-year plan so we will be ready for the new car,” he continued. “We will do our best until then.”
The team is welcoming a variety of drivers in the Rookie Test – which will be interesting to monitor. One name that isn’t on the list is Kelvin van der Linde. This begs the question, will both of the pro drivers be retained?
TF Sport and Corvette meanwhile, have been busy testing Silver-ranked drivers for next season, for a programme soon to be revealed.
As for the other car, a Bronze driver switching from another brand is rumoured, but not confirmed.
It also remains to be seen whether the changes coming to the management guard at GM Motorsports in the off-season will prove to be positive or otherwise for customers.
TF’s previous WEC manufacturer, Aston Martin, will also sport a new look in the WEC in Season 13. Heart of Racing will be back with a single-car entry, but the other Vantage looks set to be entered by ELMS and Le Mans Cup customer Racing Spirit of Leman (with assistance from Prodrive) as D’Station steps back after four years in the championship.
The Swiss outfit is expected to field two of its 2024 ELMS drivers, Valentin Hasse Clot and Derek DeBoer, for what will be their first seasons in WEC.
Finally, McLaren, while there has been no formal confirmation from either United Autosports or the Woking-based brand, the indication is that both organisations are preparing for a return to the world championship for a second year.
“The intention was always that we were going to be here for years two and three, but there’s more work to do to put a project of this size together, to meet the ever-increasing budget requirements,” United Autosports boss Richard Dean pointed out in conversation with DSC.
A number of strides forward have been taken during the 2024 season and United’s Bronze drivers have grown in confidence in recent races. But it is not yet clear who – if anyone – will return from its current sextet in 2025.
The team is testing an array of drivers on Sunday in the Rookie Test, with some interesting additions expected to join those currently listed. It may prove to be a crucial day in terms of evaluation ahead of its off-season test programme.
Both United and McLaren hope this is a programme which will mature nicely and continue for multiple years. However, an increase in both hands-on and financial support from McLaren may be required here for the LMGT3 Evo to become a true contender in the WEC.
That’s the nine brands currently on the grid, all of whom, are expected to return with two cars next year. There is however, one further manufacturer on the outside looking in that may find its way onto the grid: Mercedes-AMG.
Depending on how the Hypercar entry shakes out regarding Iron Lynx’s return with Lamborghini and the potential addition (or not) of a second Proton Porsche 963, Mercedes-AMG could find itself as a third German brand in the championship.
Over the summer its head of customer motorsport Christoph Sagemüller reiterated the brand’s desire to feature on the grid before the new platform arrives and customer teams appear to be on hand to take the step.
Front-runners likely include GetSpeed and Winward, after both AKKODIS ASP and HRT (now with Lexus and Ford respectively) previously expressed interest.
However, beyond there being sufficient grid space, an additional major hurdle remains, and that’s homologation. The car will need to be adapted to run in LMGT3, with torque sensors and potentially aerodynamic tweaks, in time for the season opener. The project won’t though be coming from a standing start, the AMG is understood to have already tested with the torque sensors and it will feature in the IMSA Sanctioned test at Daytona in a fortnight with the same tech.
Confirmation though needs to come soon for AMG to put together a logistically challenging programme from scratch.
