The 2025 Qatar 1812KM delivered milestone results in both classes to kick off the FIA WEC’s 13th season.
In the top class, it was a tour de force for Ferrari. The #50 factory crew of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina led home a 1-2-3 for the Italian marque, finally capturing the first win for either of the two factory cars outside of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
It was also the first 1-2-3 overall finish for the brand in the FIA WEC and in a major sportscar race since the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours when Ferrari dominated with a pair of 330 P4s and a 412P.
Prior to the Prologue, the Italian marque’s drivers stressed how eager they were to start winning the shorter WEC races regularly and challenge for the World Championship in 2025 with consistent finishes. Pole, fastest lap, and a formation finish in Round 1 is not a bad return to kick things off!
There was chatter in the paddock throughout the Prologue and pre-race track sessions that the 499Ps would be head and shoulders above the rest on both single lap and long-run pace in the race. And that indeed proved to be the case once the lights went out on Friday afternoon.
“We have learned from our mistakes,” explained Ferrari AF Corse team manager Batti Pregliasco post-race, when asked to summarise the performance. “Last year we were not competitive here, and that’s why we decided to test here over the winter.
“We understood many things, including how to manage the tyres, which was a main aspect of this race. There were a lot of changes in compounds (during the 10 hours between the Medium and Hard Michelins) and many cars started on different strategies. I think ours was a good one, though.”
Ferrari also managed the end of the race well. It’s never easy to keep top-level drivers focused on the bigger picture when they are racing teammates for podium positions. But the engineers on the strategy desks in all three garages found a way to ensure things didn’t get too feisty between Antonio Fuoco, Robert Kubica, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, who were entrusted to bring the three cars home.
“It’s important to be reliable now the regulations state you score Manufacturers’ points with two cars (rather than the highest finishing car), which means we need to do well with both cars each race,” Pregliasco added.
We have learned from our mistakes
“At the end, we had three cars, one didn’t count for Manufacturers’ points, so it was intelligent to leave them open until 10 minutes before the end and then freeze them to avoid making mistakes.”
Ferrari’s dominance was amplified last night by rough outings for the two other brands that appeared to be in the mix for top-three finishes. Both Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA and BMW M Team WRT were left to lick their wounds and wonder what could have been after letting a chance at a breakthrough result slip through their fingers.
Meanwhile, for the other heavy hitters in the class, it was a forgettable day. Porsche Penske Motorsport, 12 months on from dominating the inaugural WEC race in Qatar, lacked raw speed.
And the reigning manufacturers’ champion, Toyota Gazoo Racing, struggled for a second year in a row at the Lusail circuit. Leaving aside Balance of Performance, it’s a circuit that the Toyota team doesn’t feel plays to the GR010 HYBRID’s strengths. A faultless run was required from both its cars to salvage a strong points finish with fifth and sixth.
“It was positive, but the Ferrari was untouchable for us, as was the BMW,” a concerned Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal/driver Kamui Kobayashi told DSC. “They were fast and we didn’t expect this performance after practice. We minimised the damage but for Ferrari it was 1-2-3, huge points for them.”
Will this dominance for Ferrari roll over into its home event in Imola next month? That’s the big question, as it’s still very early days. The 499Ps looked rapid at the famous undulating Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari last year, before a costly error in tyre strategy as the weather changed during the race opened the door for a shock Toyota win.
Balance of Performance, which teams are not allowed to discuss by regulation, will of course play a part, and this year, there have been a few key changes in the FIA’s methodology.
For this season, more lap time data will be factored into the process. A combination of the 10 best laps for each car and an average of the top 60 percent of each car’s best laps are taken into account, meaning tyre wear now essentially comes into play.
Data from the previous three events (excluding Le Mans) will be considered too and there will be more transparency between the rule makers and manufacturers than ever before. Previously the FIA intentionally kept elements of its process under lock and key; this shift has been made after eight working group meetings ahead of the 2025 season.
The aim, as ever, is to produce closer racing and prevent the costs associated with running a programme from spiralling. In practice, does this mean Ferrari will be pegged back immediately, meaning the pendulum will swing towards other manufacturers when we go racing again next month?
“We will have to wait and see,” concluded Pregliasco. “Last year in Imola, we learned a lot about strategy and I think our car is good for a track like that.”
TF Sport throws down the gauntlet
TF Sport’s victory from 13th on the grid in LMGT3 was significant for a number of reasons. It was a second major win in as many months for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R for starters (as well as its first in the WEC) and follows AWA’s historic Rolex 24 GTD class win with the car back in January.
After such a strong start to the season in both IMSA and the FIA WEC, and with the promise of more to come in SRO racing, the future for Chevrolet’s customer GT programme with Corvette has never looked so bright.
The triumph also marked a perfect return to full-time WEC racing for Ben Keating. The Texan, who in 2023 won both the GTE Am championship and took a class win at Le Mans with Corvette, looks ready to follow that success up after scoring an eighth victory in the WEC alongside two teammates who were celebrating their first.
Jonny Edgar and Daniel Juncadella played a major role in steering TF to glory on a night in which six manufacturers finished in the top six of LMGT3.
Silver-ranked Edgar is new to LMGT3 racing and the WEC, but put in a faultless performance en route to winning on his championship debut. With each passing race weekend for the Briton, it’s becoming clearer that he’s a true star in the making. He went toe-to-toe with some of the best in the business and put together a calm and collected performance on a day in which the team’s pre-race expectations were mixed at best.
I didn’t expect it, I really didn’t
“It’s always nice to win, but the way we won was extra special,” he told DSC. “In the Prologue we were happy with the car, but we knew the McLarens and Lexus were fast. Then it changed on race week, I struggled for confidence, Ben had similar feedback and it looked like the pace going into the race wasn’t that great.
“The only thing we could cling on to was the fact that a perfect race for us might deliver a good result, but only a top six finish. I didn’t expect it, I really didn’t.”
Juncadella excelled too, orchestrating a defensive masterclass. His final stint demonstrated just how talented he is behind the wheel, in a car that clearly wasn’t quite as fast as the chasing United Autosports McLaren driven by Gregoire Saucy, who appears to have taken a major step forward over the winter.
And finally, for TF Sport as a team, it was a memorable victory (its first in the WEC since Fuji 2022) in part because it followed a challenging fortnight for the team.
Its visit to Lusail was disrupted by a bout of chickenpox for team owner Tom Ferrier, which left him unable to work at the circuit until after the Prologue. But it didn’t stop the venerable British team from working through its pre-race programme and laying the foundations for a big result.
It’s certainly been a ‘journey’ to this point, after an undeniably tough start to life as a Corvette customer team in 2024. Things appear to have turned around though as year two picks up steam. While it feels a little too early to name TF Sport the title favourite, Friday’s performance certainly backed up a number of pre-season predictions that it will be a true contender this term.
The only real blot on the page was the sister #81 Corvette retiring with an alternator issue. However, Ferrier told DSC he felt it didn’t impact the team’s push for victory too much. “In fact,” he said, “it helped a little as it meant we had more people focused on one task.”
“There’s no denying that it was a big move for us to join GM and Corvette,” Ferrier continued in reaction to the victory. “We knew it was going to be a challenge the first year, and it was to start with. We gathered momentum as the year went on. Bahrain ended fantastically with a second and third, which was really exciting.
“We went to Daytona this year and everyone saw the reliability and how much it had improved on the Corvette and that gave us a bit of confidence. We had a great Prologue, struggled a bit earlier this week but knew we had a good car for the race and executed perfectly.”
Images courtesy of Andrew Hall & DPPI
