Barker and Lynn back in action
Ford Performance factory driver Ben Barker and Cadillac works driver Alex Lynn are back in action after missing the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona last month.
Barker was unable to take part after a skiing incident, while Lynn sat out the race with an illness. Thankfully, both are here in Qatar, fully recovered and primed for the WEC season ahead.
Barker is set to drive the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang, and Lynn will race with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in the #12 V-Series.R.
New gravel
A number of new gravel traps have been added to the Lusail International Circuit in time for this year’s race. These are at the exits of Turns 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, plus 12-15. Changes have also been made to some of the kerbs according to race director Eduardo Freitas.
Will this lead to more FCY and safety car interventions and a less aggressive approach to traffic management from the Hypercar drivers compared to last year? We shall have to wait and see.
Schiavoni gearing up for Mercedes-AMG challenge
Iron Lynx co-owner-driver Claudio Schiavoni caught up with DSC yesterday. The Italian is thrilled to be back in the WEC with the team in 2025 after the late switch from Lamborghini to Mercedes-AMG.
Schiavoni explained that he is incredibly grateful that ACO President Pierre Fillon was so accommodating in the off-season, allowing the team space on the grid with the new manufacturer on such short notice.
The learning curve is set to be pretty steep for the Iron Lynx team as it gets up to speed with its new machinery from the ‘Three-Pointed Star’, but the hope is that the 14 hours of track time during the Prologue will be productive for the team and allow it to hit the ground running next Friday.
Prior to travelling to the Middle East, Iron Lynx is known to have shaken down its new AMGs at Vallelunga in recent weeks, where both Schiavoni and Christian Ried got seat time alongside a number of the other drivers.
Spotted in the paddock
One very pleasant surprise encounter in the Qatar pitlane was former RBM team owner Bart Mampaey (below), the ex-multiple Touring Car Championship winner with Andy Priaulx (ETCC and 3 x WTCC) and long-time BMW DTM entrant.
He is now in a consultancy role with Iron Lynx, helping it transition to its Mercedes-AMG era. The super-affable Belgian was greeted with delight by long-time friend Martin Haven. Race director Eduardo Freitas is also very happy to find out his long-time friend was on-site in Qatar.
One of Mampaey’s long-time touring car rivals Dirk Mueller is also in the paddock this weekend, the ex-BMW and Ford factory man now assisting Mick Schumacher with his preparations for the season to come as a coach and advisor.
Also present on-site throughout, but not in a driving capacity for the first time, is Sarah Bovy. The Belgian multiple-class pole-sitter and GTE Am race winner with the Iron Dames is now Silver-ranked and will not race in the WEC in 2025.
However, she will stay on board as an advisor and ambassador for the team in the World Championship after forming part of the crew for the Asian Le Mans Series in a Manthey-run Porsche to help the team’s new Bronze, Celia Martin, to integrate into the squad.
Newcomers welcomed
Amongst Friday morning’s activities was a briefing session with Race Officials for WEC newcomers, a process that started in 2024 and is also now undertaken for the European and Asian LMS season openers.
It gives an opportunity for newcomers to the championship and those switching classes, to hear from senior race officials (the briefing is chaired by Eduardo Freitas) and ask questions more openly than perhaps the full driver briefing allows.
BoP tables Published
The Balance of Performance values for both classes have been set ahead of the Prologue.
In Hypercar, the table was amended yesterday since it was first published, with a handful of minor changes made across several cars.
LMGT3 has had no changes since the first document was published on the 19th.
Display Panels make debut
This year fans will notice a visual change to the side of each car on the grid, with the addition in 2025 of new LED display panels. These will show the car’s position in class live during the race, and additional information during pit stops (virtual energy tank filling and tyre change time).
Teams have been running with the panels in testing, though perhaps interestingly, the initial penalty that would have been assigned in case of malfunction, has, for now at least, been removed from the regulations.
Fans take the wheel for Goodyear Wingfoot Award
This season brings a fresh twist to LMGT3 tyre supplier Goodyear’s Wingfoot Award, as fans will now play a crucial role in choosing the award winner at the end of each race.
Votes from both trackside attendees and viewers at home will decide the winner at each round. This new ‘driver of the weekend’ format puts fans at the heart of the action, celebrating the best performances in the class.
“Since its introduction in 2023, the Goodyear Wingfoot Award has always celebrated the very best driver performances in endurance racing,” adds McGregor. “Now, we’re giving fans the chance to have their say, putting them at the heart of the action.”
Previously the Wingfoot Award recognised the performance and consistency of the best LMGT3 driver via data gathered during the races. In each race the driver was measured over a single stint, with the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans where two consecutive stints were factored in.
The driver with the fastest stint average won the award each weekend and claimed points which put them in with a chance to be crowned Wingfoot Award champion (above) at the end of the campaign.
