10 Reasons to Watch the World Endurance Championship in 2025

Yahoo

27-02-2025

The World Endurance Championship season begins in Qatar on February 28. Here's some of what we'll be watching at the opener and throughout the 2025 season.Porsche Penske Motorsport may be the winningest combo in the first two seasons of Hypercar and GTP, but it entered the 2025 WEC season's opening round of the Qatar 1812 km under pressure.
Although the team nearly swept the driver and manufacturer titles in both series last year before Toyota claimed the factory title in the WEC season finale, the pressure at Porsche is internal as well as external.
'The Porsche 963 is meant to continue the legacy of legendary endurance racing prototypes like the 917, 935, 956, 962 and 919 Hybrid,' said Thomas Laudenbach, the vice president of motorsport at Porsche. 'These icons from Weissach have shaped endurance racing for years. We intend to achieve the same with our current hybrid prototype.'
Laudenbach's words came on the eve of the new season and put a renewed focus on winning at Le Mans. The well-budgeted Porsche Penske combination is expected to continue in the WEC, despite the headwinds in German auto manufacturing. But the sooner a Le Mans victory arrives the better.Ferrari's 499P Hypercar has created a halo for the incomparable F80 road car that will generate billions by its sale to select customers. But work remains to be done after the back-to-back wins at Le Mans.
This year's red paint scheme is different, implying driver and manufacturer title aspirations in a classic Ferrari manner. There's more red showing on the sidepods in a deeper hue. This harkens back to the official factory team's last endurance racing championship in 1972 with the 312 PB in the World Championship of Makes.
During the offseason, the team concentrated on reliability updates in pursuit of both cars finishing in the points in each of this year's eight rounds.
A joker update was taken midway last season to improve cooling of the brakes and to add flicks below the headlights.
'We have made several organizational changes and continue to do so,' said Antonello Coletta, head of Ferrari's endurance programs. 'I believe we have taken a crucial step forward, particularly in our technical knowledge of the car.'Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari have dominated Hypercar. Will any of the teams break out of the second tier that last year included Alpine, BMW, Cadillac and Peugeot?
The odds currently look to favor BMW, whose M Hybrid V8 had a strong showing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
A BMW started on the pole in Daytona and was contending in the final hour. In the second season of the factory-run WEC program, BMW hopes to advance by having several drivers work in both the WEC and IMSA GTP events as often as the schedule permits to generate better development.
'We are convinced that this way joining our forces will bring us advantages,' said Andreas Roos, who directs the M Motorsport program.
The BMW driving lineup has gone from strength-to-strength with the addition of Kevin Magnussen, who joins Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello in the No. 15. The No. 20 will be shared by René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon Van Der Linde.New to the grid is the much-anticipated Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH. Although the Cosworth V12-powered car is not a hybrid, the program is a mix of British, American and Canadian influences.
Ian James is at the 'heart' of the prototype team that has adopted the THOR acronym of its longtime full name of The Heart of Racing. An ex-patriot Brit, James initially organized Aston Martin's GT endurance racing program with Americans Gabe Newell and Yahn Bernier.
Much of the new THOR team is staffed by Canadian-based Multimatic as well as Aston Martin veterans like George Howard-Chappell. In addition to the Heart of Racing organization, drivers Alex Riberas, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis are making the jump from GT to prototypes.
Can the Valkyrie, which will launch its IMSA campaign at Sebring, make an impression out of the box?
'We know we're starting two or three years behind our competition so the learning curve is going to be steep,' said WEC veteran Harry Tincknell, who did much of the early testing.The new Cadillac Racing-JOTA Sport alliance may surprise given Jota's 13 podiums at Le Mans in 11 seasons. But in making a transition from its privateer Porsche 963 entry, which won at Spa last year, the British team may not jell right away with the V-Series.R.
'We're narrowing the (path) to find the best window where the car operates,' said Sam Hignett, the team's director. 'We should roll into the (Qatar race) in pretty good shape.'
Jota consolidated its driving lineup while adding those with Cadillac experience—Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn. Veterans of Chip Ganassi Racing's two seasons of V-Series.R entries, Boudais and Bamber are paired with Jota regular Jenson Button. Lynn joins Will Stevens and Norman Nato, who co-drove a Porsche 963 for Jota last year.
Given the amount of co-driving experience on other teams, Jota is counting on its drivers' chemistry and preferences coming together quickly. The computer-centric hybrids are very sensitive to inputs by drivers, whose engineers are constantly searching for improvements from session to session and during races.The initial entry list is expected to be out following the opening round at Qatar.
Porsche will have four 963s courtesy of one privateer entry by Proton Competition and an automatic entry resulting from Porsche Penske's GTP title. In addition to its two Jota entries, Cadillac would like to have four, which would mean acceptance of the IMSA teams of Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing.
BMW has had under consideration the addition of a third M Hybrid V8 from its IMSA team of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Including a privateer entry from AF Corse (pictured), Ferrari will again have three cars.
Depending on what comes to pass, the Le Mans entry could total 22 entries in the Hypercar class, 13 of them LMDh cars, including Alpine.The Ford Mustang GT3 and Corvette Z06 GT3.R are in their second season of flying the American colors in the WEC's highly competitive LMGT3 class consisting of 18 entries.
Ford Performance has revamped its lineup at Proton Competition, adding full season roles for Giammarco Levorato and Ben Tuck, drivers who impressed in parttime appearances last season. Levorato drove a Mustang GT3 to its first pole at the IMSA GTD class event at Virginia International Raceway.
Despite a fire in the No. 77 car that put it out of commission for most of the Prologue, expectations are high for the Mustang team on the heels of a GTD Pro victory with Multimatic in the Rolex 24.
'We had some productive days during the Prologue,' said Levorato, who will co-drive the No. 88.
Ben Keating, driving the TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R, is the only American in any of the U.S. brands. Bronze-rated Keating won the GTE championship in 2023 with TF Sport, but is new to the Z06 GT3.R and the Lusail International Circuit.
'To have my name on the side of the car while racing a brand that I sell is pretty special for me,' said the Texas mega-dealer. 'I am nervous and excited, which are all the feelings you'd expect to have."
Keating is paired with silver-rated Jonny Edgar, an LMP2 champion in the ELMS, and platinum-rated Daniel Juncadella in the No. 33, a relatively strong driving lineup.The Iron Lynx and Iron Dames are each moving to different manufacturers this season.
After helping to develop the new Mercedes-AMG GT3, Iron Lynx is fielding two of them as the German manufacturer looks to make a return to Le Mans.
'We had the chance to test in different conditions (at the Prologue) in Qatar,' said WEC veteran Maxime Martin. 'A bit of everything that we will face in the races.'
The associated Iron Dames, a team within the Lynx team, has switched to the Porsche 911 GT3 R that will be run by Manthey Racing. Given the car's impressive performance last year under the Manthey banner, the Iron Dames are looking to repeat the ground-breaking victory of 2023, when the team's all-female drivers became the first to win a WEC race.
This season, Célia Martin is the bronze-rated driver. Rahel Frey (pictured), the team's silver, and Michelle Gatting, the gold, joined with Sarah Bovy to get the win in 2023.Ford Performance has taken its time when it comes to revealing the details of its LMDh entry into the Hypercar class for 2027. A design, a builder and a team have yet to be made final.
The plan is to concentrate on the WEC first and to headquarter the team in Europe. As expected, the engine will be a V8, although the choice of atmospheric or turbocharged is not clear.
It is fully expected the car will appear in IMSA's GTP class, although no formal acknowledgement has been made.The FIA and Automobile Club de l'Ouest officials recently announced streaming will be available in the U.S. for six of the eight rounds of this year's championship at the FIA WEC TV site.
The Le Mans 24-hour and Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas will be available on cable at Motor Trend, now operated by Discovery, which will also stream all the WEC events at Max.