LMGT3 in its inaugural season last year was a bit of a slow burn. Early on in the campaign, it felt like the category was split into two groups, those who were quick to get up to speed with the new machinery and the associated challenges presented by the introduction of torque sensors and virtual energy, and those who weren’t.
In fact, for much of the first half of the season, the narrative was Porsche vs the rest, with Manthey’s pair of 911s winning four races and taking both the Le Mans class win and the LMGT3 titles by storm.
2025 though, promises something different. Towards the end of last year, the field closed up and the racing improved as a result. Thus, the hope is that with all but one of the 2024 teams back for more this year, we will see a real dogfight at each race meeting.
That’s not to say that this class hasn’t undergone a makeover for Year 2 though. Mercedes-AMG is in, Lamborghini is out, and there’s been a raft of driver changes across the board which promise to add spice to this maturing category.
The most unfortunate news from the winter is that Lithuanian team Pure Rxcing, after winning the title with Manthey and Porsche in 2024, isn’t back to defend its crown. That does guarantee us a new champion though. The question is: who will it be?
Aston Martin
- Racing Spirit Of Leman, #10 Vantage AMR LMGT3: Derek Deboer, Eduardo Barrichello, Valentin Hasse Clot
- Heart of Racing Team, #27 Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Zach Robichon, Mattia Drudi
Aston Martin is the only brand represented by a new team in 2025, with ELMS graduate Racing Spirit of Leman stepping up to take over from D’Station with a single-car effort alongside Heart of Racing. It’s an interesting combination, bringing together works driver Valentin Hasse Clot, Derek Deboer and Eduardo Barrichello for their first full WEC campaigns.
Heart of Racing meanwhile, sees team principal Ian James return to race alongside ex-Proton Mustang driver Zach Robichon and factory ace Mattia Drudi, who was a key architect of AMR’s stunning Spa 24 Hours win last year.
While Racing Spirit Of Leman’s drivers, even with the support of Prodrive, will likely need time to get up to speed (the loss of track time after Deboer’s Prologue incident has not helped) Heart of Racing has the potential to be a contender off the bat in this company.
Last year the Seattle-based team won a race (Lone Star Le Mans) and finished on the podium two times. What prevented a title challenge was its DNF at Le Mans and general consistency across the season, with the car finishing outside the points on three occasions.
This time though, the team brings with it a season of data and experience with the current-spec Vantage, which is an all-around great package that’s extremely am-friendly. Title contender? We think so.
BMW
- The Bend Team WRT, #31 M4 LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Timur Boguslavskiy, Augusto Farfus
- Team WRT, #46 M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde
Expectations are sky-high at WRT in LMGT3 as we head into the 2025 season. Armed with a pair of new-for-2025 EVO-spec M4 GT3s and three new drivers, the Belgian team is looking to build on a campaign that showed promise but stuttered as the season went on.
The start of the year has been remarkable for the team. With the updated M4 it won the Dubai 24 Hours on the car’s global debut, before winning the Abu Dhabi Six Hours a week later. Using the previous-spec car it then claimed a 1-2 finish in the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this month, maintaining the 100 per cent winning record.
Will its all-conquering form continue into Qatar? The team certainly feels it has all the ingredients to do so. In LMGT3, bringing a balanced line-up to the field is crucial. The addition of 2024 Bronze standout Yasser Shashin and former World Challenge Europe Endurance Champion Timur Boguslavskiy to the #31 and newly-minted factory driver Kelvin van der Linde to the #46’s charge are reasons to be optimistic that the team can be a title contender.
As ever, Rossi brings a huge following to the team, and that in turn adds to the pressure to deliver. In 2024 the team won just one race (at Imola) and in a wider sense underachieved; its form dropped off considerably in the second half of the season when Vista AF Corse and TF Sport began to hit their stride. The hope is that new faces in the garage and a refined package will help steer the team back in the right direction.
The BMWs will run with the lowest minimum weight to start the season at 1344 kg, and a 2.3 per cent power gain after 200 kph.
Corvette
- TF Sport, #33 Z06 LMGT3.R: Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar, Daniel Juncadella
- TF Sport, #91 Z06 LMGT3.R: Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, Charlie Eastwood
Tom Ferrier’s highly successful team returns in 2025 for a second year partnered with General Motors. For Year 2 with the Z06, the #91 sees the Van Rompuy, Andrade and Eastwood trio retained and back for more, while the #33 has attracted two-time WEC class champion Ben Keating for a comeback, along with AO by TF ELMS LMP2 title holder Jonny Edgar and works driver Daniel Juncadella.
Keating’s return to the WEC full-time is a clear headline. The veteran Texan is back with Corvette and TF Sport and will look to make an immediate impact.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that’s the story here. After a year in IMSA LMP2 with United Autosports and one-off races at Le Mans and CoTA in the WEC, he’s now flipped his programme to a full WEC campaign with an appearance at Daytona last month.
“I love being with TF Sport, I love running the Corvette, I really appreciate the WEC rules, the way it races, my drive time matters,” Keating told DSC. “So I’m here and it’s the first time ever I’ve had my name on the side of the car with Keating Chevrolet, and it’s a big deal for me to race something I sell. It’s key to my racing. It just all came together, I could even return to get my number, 33.”
There’s work to be done to get up to speed and score points early in the season, though Keating has full confidence that TF is now on top of the car and that his teammates will help secure strong results. He also set the fastest Bronze time in the Prologue, reminding the paddock of his capabilities despite his lack of experience at the Lusail Circuit.
As for the other car, familiarity has the potential to breed big results. Van Rompuy stormed to pole 12 months ago in Qatar, can he repeat that feat and score big results with Andrade and Eastwood, who bring real quality to the LMGT3 field?
BoP-wise, the Corvette begins the season as the heaviest car in the field, with a minimum weight of 1374 kg, though it does benefit from a five per cent power gain after 200 kph.
Ferrari
- Vista AF Corse, #21 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera
- Vista AF Corse, #54 296 LMGT3: Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon
Ferrari is the only manufacturer bringing the same set of six drivers to the WEC’s LMGT3 class this year from the 2024 campaign. And after a strong finish to last season, with a win apiece for both line-ups at Fuji and Bahrain, the team will hope to carry that momentum and form over to the start of this season.
We’re not a million miles away from an EVO update coming to the 296 GT3, and we should hear more on that later in the year. But this isn’t a car that feels old, in fact, it’s still hitting its stride in some respects. It’s a remarkable piece of engineering, which is easy to service and seemingly quick at every type of circuit. That’s a combination that will serve Vista AF Corse well this season as it looks to score Ferrari its first LMGT3 title.
The question is, are the two driver line-ups up to the task? The entire season will hinge on the performances of Heriau, Flohr and to a certain degree, Mann. If they can stay consistent, and error-free, then the world’s their oyster.
Silver-rated Mann also impressed at the Prologue, setting the fastest time of anyone, though it must be noted that it wasn’t quicker than the 2024 pole time (set by Bronze-rated Tom Van Rompu) while the best Hypercar lap in testing this year did.
It’s going to be fascinating to find out if last season’s late charge was a sign of things to come or a flash in the pan…
Ford
- Proton Competition, #77 Mustang LMGT3: Bernardo Sousa, Ben Tuck, Ben Barker
- Proton Competition, #88 Mustang LMGT3: Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato, Dennis Olsen
Anyone hoping the ‘Daytona effect‘ would carry over directly from Ford’s GTD Pro factory team to Proton’s more corporately liveried Mustangs in Qatar for the Prologue would have been extremely disappointed last week.
The German team were quite literally ‘firefighting’ during the two-day test after a serious engine bay fire cut the #77’s running short early on Friday. And it has to be said that the #88 sister did little to calm the waters, missing chunks of track time and finishing up 16th in the combined rankings on pace.
There’s a lot of work to be done it seems before these V8-powered racers can contend, especially as Sousa and Gattuso are new to the car, and Levorato only joined the team back in November for the 2024 season finale.
Thankfully, the newcomers will receive guidance from two extremely talented hands from the works stable in Barker and Olsen, who is fresh from winning the Rolex 24 with the Multimatic effort. Ben Tuck is also a standout talent, the Briton was rapid during his Asian Le Mans campaign over the winter with Kessel Racing and always exciting to watch.
While it would be foolish to write off this Proton before the season starts – it managed to finish third and fourth at Le Mans last year with the Mustang lest we forget – it’s hard to envisage the team fighting at the sharp end on Friday.
Expectations should be kept low, for now at least, but here’s hoping Christian Ried’s hugely experienced and successful team find a way to prove everyone wrong…
Lexus
- AKKODIS ASP Team, #78 RC F LMGT3: Arnold Robin, Finn Gehrsitz, Ben Barnicoat
- AKKODIS ASP Team, #87 RC F LMGT3: Petru Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid, Jose Maria Lopez
Another team that had a 2024 programme come together very late was AKKODIS ASP and Lexus. The RC F GT3s struggled in the first half of the season, with systems integration issues that the hugely successful Jerome Policand-led team struggled to get on top of quickly. A brief show of pace during the Le Mans 24 Hours was the only real sign that things were set to improve.
While the French team is undoubtedly waiting for the new car from Lexus to arrive there’s still the huge task ahead of campaigning the RC F for a second season in such a highly competitive field.
In terms of drivers, the big news is that 2023 IMSA GTD Pro champion Ben Barnicoat is on board and will bring his extensive knowledge, experience and speed to the programme. He will team up with rapid German Finn Gehrsitz and returning Bronze Arnold Robin.
Jose Maria Lopez is also back for the team’s second year with partial 2024 campaigner Clemens Schmid and Petru Umbrarescu, who previously raced with the team in GT World Challenge back in 2021 and 2022.
The Prologue, it has to be said, produced surprising results, with both cars finishing in the top six of the combined times. But it’s only testing and there’s almost certainly more pace to come from the field.
With a car that’s almost at the end of its life, any signs of progress would be considered a victory of sorts for the team and Lexus. ASP’s best result last year was a sixth-place finish on home ground at Le Mans, topping that should be the first item on the team’s list of goals for the campaign ahead.
McLaren
- United Autosports, #59 LMGT3 Evo: James Cottingham, Sebastien Baud, Gregoire Saucy
- United Autosports, #95 LMGT3 Evo: Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Marino Sato
The contrast in the atmosphere at McLaren partner team United Autosports compared to the 2024 Prologue 12 months ago is stark. The deal for last season came together late and testing opportunities were limited. It made for a tough start to the year, but momentum did pick up for the Anglo-American team after Le Mans.
The hope within the camp is that the upward trajectory continues into its sophomore season with its new-look papaya and black-liveried GT3 Evos.
The addition of Darren Leung to its driver roster is a reason to be cheerful and feels like a statement of intent. The former British GT Champion, who impressed in his Rookie WEC season last year with WRT and was part of BMW’s only win in LMGT3 at Imola, has made the move after much deliberation.
Walking away from a factory-supported effort with BMW that features the star power of Valentino Rossi, was a decision not taken lightly. But he believes that United and the McLaren package will provide him with the tools he needs to win a title. He will also continue working with Sean Gelael, who signed with United before he did. It’s a bonus, that adds a nice layer of familiarisation to this new adventure.
“I put a lot of work in with WRT and my relationship with BMW is still very good,” Leung said. “So I’d love to have stuck it out. But the second half of last year was so tough. We felt like we had one hand tied behind our back, and the BMW wasn’t so good on low-grip tracks or tyre degradation. It was soul-destroying and I didn’t want to fall out of love with this.
“The McLaren-United combination at the WEC Rookie Test was impressive; the car felt good and the team did too. I have known Richard Dean for a long time. It was always in the back of my mind I wanted to race with him at some point and this works.”
The sister car meanwhile sees Saucy and Cottingham return. They will share the car with ex-AKKODIS ASP driver Baud, in the seat filled by Nicolas Costa last year. Cottingham improved race by race in 2025 and if he can take just a step or two further forward then there’s no reason we can’t see the #59 battling for podiums at every stop on the calendar.
2025 is set to be a huge year for both United and McLaren, with expectations high for the LMGT3 effort in the anniversary year of McLaren’s 1995 Le Mans win.
Will United, which won both the Le Mans 24 Hours and Rolex 24 Hours in the past 12 months, start the year on the front foot and ultimately find a way to add to this run with another victory in June?
Mercedes-AMG
- Iron Lynx, #60 AMG LMGT3: Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Matteo Cairoli
- Iron Lynx, #61 AMG LMGT3: Christian Ried, Lin Hodenius, Maxime Martin
After missing out on FIA WEC LMGT3 entries in the first year of the class, Mercedes-AMG has arrived for its debut, courtesy of the meltdown in the relationship between Iron Lynx and Lamborghini at the end of last year.
The German marque’s all-conquering AMG GT3 adds a new dynamic to the field, though it remains to be seen how far up the order the Italian team can fight. This is in part due to the two line-ups it brings, which came together extremely late along with the programme itself.
Schiavoni, who has become a steady hand but is often one of the slower Bronze drivers around, and both Cressoni and Cairoli (who has been through a separate divorce with Lamborghini) are new to the Mercedes.
The other car too is an unknown quantity. Martin leads the way but has only just joined Mercedes-AMG after departing BMW’s stable and will race with youngster Hodenius and Proton team owner Christian Ried, who has signed up to drive purely to help the team complete its second trio.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle of all though concerns torque sensors, which are new to the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO this year. The car does have at least one big event with the new tech under its belt in the Rolex 24 back in January. But that was far from plain sailing after updates to the software were required on short notice during the Roar test before race week to help the teams get through the event.
Iron Lynx does at least have a year of LMGT3 racing – and the complexities of torque sensors and virtual energy tanks – under its belt to draw from, which included a title win in the ELMS. The hope is that any early teething troubles are worked through quickly so we can see what this team can do with its new OEM partner.
Porsche
- Iron Dames, #85 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Celia Martin, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting
- Manthey 1st Phorm, #92 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz
While the consensus in the LMGT3 ranks this year is that we are unlike to see Manthey repeat its dominant 2024 performance in 2025, due to the steps taken by the competition and amount of change within Porsche’s ranks, would it surprise anyone to see a team wielding a 911 win it all again?
There’s so much new this year for the German marque in the WEC’s GT class. With Alex Malykhin promoted to Silver he’s off to race in LMP2 and has taken Pure Rxcing with him, and Yasser Shahin has departed for a new home at WRT.
Iron Dames takes up one side of the garage. It moves from Lamborghini to Porsche as part of a wider partnership with the German brand and a separation – operationally – from Iron Lynx. Celia Martin is the key there, taking over from Sarah Bovy who was frequently one of the fastest Bronzes. If she can find speed, then the fan-favourite effort has a chance to leave its rough 2024 season for dust.
The other half of the attack comes from 1st Phorm after American racer Ryan Hardwick opted to switch from racing with Ford and Proton. Richard Lietz, remarkably the only Porsche LMGT3 driver to return for this season, powers the line-up, along with Riccardo Pera.
Like Iron Dames, they have a trick up their sleeves. Having spent the winter together in the hotly-contested Asian Le Mans Series GT class, they have the potential to hit the ground running after gaining so much track time since December.
“I’m enjoying the car,” Hardwick told DSC during the Asian Le Mans Series’ final weekend in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. “It’s a big step from last year. The team is mega, and the crew is prepared after the Asian campaign. We’re delighted we did it.”
