With the races at Qatar and now Imola in the rear-view mirror, attention shifts to perhaps the most important FIA WEC race of the year outside of Le Mans, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Points are, of course, up for grabs, but this race counts for more than that; it’s a chance to build momentum ahead of the biggest race of the season. Every team will want to leave the Ardennes unschathed and on a high, as the next time the paddock gathers, the pressure to deliver will be at its highest.
Up front in Hypercar, it’s all eyes on Ferrari. After a 1-2-3 at Qatar and a victory at home for the #51 crew in front of the Tifosi to start the season, the Italian manufacturer’s push to win the World Championship is off to a flying start.
The 6 Hours of Imola was by no means a perfect outing. The Qatar winners in the #50 finished 15th courtesy of a late puncture after starting from the back, and the #83, which underwent an engine change during the meeting, dropped out of the top three after losing key track position in the closing stages.
However, when you’re racing a circuit which suits your car’s characteristics and the BoP is favourable, you have to execute, and that’s exactly what the #51 crew of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi did in Emilia-Romagna.
With a podium finish to start the season and their first win since Centenary Le Mans in Round 2, they look revitalised as a trio. Another nice bundle of points is the aim here as they look to pull further away in the standings.
The overarching question is, will delivering three wins in a row be possible for AF Corse, bearing in mind we are now on the third race of the rolling average used to calculate the 2025 Balance of Performance? Will the gap to the other manufacturers close, or vanish entirely?
The BoP table suggests it will be a tough, or at least tougher, weekend. The 499Ps will run 12 kilos heavier and down 19 KW on power below 250 kph.
If not Ferrari, then BMW, on WRT’s home turf, looks like an obvious candidate to claim a breakthrough win. Vincent Vosse’s team has shed loads of experience at the circuit and has optimised its package nicely.
The M Hybrid V8 is still without a win in WEC competition, but with each passing race it looks increasingly likely that this group will find a way onto the top step. Will the BoP for the event, which sees the M Hybrid V8s run with an additional 7 kilos onboard and a reduction of 10 KW maximum power below 250 kph, prove painful?
The line-up looks different for Spa, as the team will be without its talisman Dries Vanthoor, who will surely be disappointed to be missing his home race, and Sheldon van der Linde, who played a key role in the #20 crew’s second-place finish last time out.
The pair will be on IMSA GTP duty in Laguna Seca, leaving Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello to steer the #15 and Robin Frijns and Rene Rast to share the #20.
Alpine, meanwhile, will surely be targeting another podium after Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki and Mick Schumacher took third in Italy.
We’re almost a year on from its torrid double DNF at Le Mans, and since that race, Les Bleus have taken a number of positive steps forward. Two strong points finishes would go a long way in calming the nerves before the team’s return to the Circuit de la Sarthe.
For the other manufacturers, this weekend represents a key opportunity to put tough starts to the season behind them.
Frustrated is perhaps the best adjective to describe the mood at Toyota Gazoo Racing. It hasn’t been a bad start to the 2025 campaign, as the #8 has two fifth-place finishes, and the #7 has a sixth and seventh, but it hasn’t met the toweringly high bar the team sets for itself.
In the same way that winning the World Championship is Ferrari’s goal this year, Toyota’s focus is on Le Mans. But the Manufacturers’ title defence still matters, and the Japanese brand currently sits third, 39 points off Ferrari and 10 points back from BMW.
It’s clear that the senior members of the team feel this year’s BoP has blunted its weaponry, but there were some encouraging signs at Imola, particularly when Sebastien Buemi was at the wheel and defending hard to keep the #50 Ferrari behind him.
The feeling is similar at Porsche Penske Motorsport, as the WEC arm of the programme has struggled to get close to matching the output of its GTP effort, which has enjoyed a perfect start to the season, winning all three races.
Will the formbook turn upside down here? The team will certainly be fully focused on delivering a flawless weekend, particularly as its driver roster has taken a fresh look.
Keeping tabs on the progress of reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein in the #6 as he fills in for IMSA-tied Matt Campbell ahead of his Le Mans debut will be worthwhile. Nico Müller, on his Hypercar return, will also be worth keeping an eye on. He’s in the #5 subbing for Mathieu Jaminet, who is also set to race at Laguna Seca.
As for Proton, which is operating the third 963 in the field, it would be unfair to expect a repeat of last year’s stunning run at the front when Julien Andlauer was still part of the effort. For Neel Jani’s teammates Nico Pino and Nico Varrone, getting more laps under their belt before their first Le Mans in the top class will be the principal aim.
Conversely, there is the potential for a re-run of 2024 for Hertz Team JOTA. Cadillac has failed to produce even a podium finish on either side of the Atlantic this year with the V-Series.R and its three partner teams. Pressure is on then to deliver and show potential for Sam Hignett and Co., on the anniversary of its shock overall win as a privateer Porsche team after the controversial race extension.
That leaves Aston Martin THOR Team and Peugeot TotalEnergies. For the former, another showcase of the Valkyrie’s reliability – on a weekend when the car will be racing in both IMSA and WEC at the same time – would go down well. The performance of the cars may also see an uptick via a 16 kilo weight break, an additional 15 KW of max power below 250 kph and an increase of 8 MJ in max stint energy.
As for the latter, a points finish for both cars should be the first priority, as we continue to ponder whether or not the current iteration of the 9X8 can shock the world on its second attempt at Le Mans.
A bit of housekeeping to finish up. Like Imola, tyre choice will be paramount, even if it stays dry. Michelin has opted to bring the Soft and Medium compounds for the event, and the teams will have to get themselves up to speed with the areas of the 7 km circuit that have been resurfaced since last year.
Stay tuned for DSC’s LMGT3 preview tomorrow…
