WEC: Qatari contest to raise the curtain on 2025 campaign

The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship will race into motion in Qatar later this week (26-28 February) – as all indications level to a battle royale between among the greatest manufacturers within the motor sport and automotive spheres.

With the standard Prologue pre-season check already within the rear-view mirror, sights are centered firmly ahead on what’s shaping as much as be essentially the most aggressive and unpredictable marketing campaign in FIA WEC’s 13-year historical past.

Qatar’s 5.418km, 16-turn Lusail Worldwide Circuit first welcomed the world’s premier endurance racing sequence in 2024, when Porsche prototypes locked out the rostrum locations within the Hypercar class. The German marque equally prevailed within the inaugural LMGT3 contest.

“The circuit is kind of distinctive,” acknowledged reigning Hypercar world champion, Kévin Estre, who received at Lusail final 12 months and is bidding to defend his Drivers’ crown with Porsche Penske Motorsport alongside Laurens Vanthoor and – within the longer occasions – Matt Campbell. “The whole monitor may be very flat, with hardly any bumps and plenty of grip. Getting the tyres into the optimum working window can be essential.”

DANCING FROM DAY INTO NIGHT

Situated simply north of the Center Japanese state’s capital, Doha and surrounded by desert, Lusail’s clean, high-speed structure poses plenty of challenges because it pushes drivers, automobiles and tyres proper to the restrict, from its flat-out, kilometre-long predominant straight to its tight, twisty and technical center sector.

Not solely that, however with an early afternoon begin time and a period of roughly 10 hours, the Qatar 1812km – named in honour of the nation’s nationwide day – will see rivals race from daylight into darkish, that means they may moreover have to cope with dramatically differing air and monitor temperatures.

Porsche was once more one of many main protagonists throughout the two-day Prologue, as have been Ferrari’s trio of 499P Hypercars and the recently-merged Cadillac Hertz Staff JOTA alliance, whereas Aston Martin’s model new V12-engined Valkyries made their first official look in FIA WEC’s 18-strong Hypercar discipline. 

Reigning Producers’ title-holder Toyota is certain to be a drive to be reckoned with as soon as extra because it fields an unchanged driver line-up in its pair of GR010 Hybrid Hypercars, and Peugeot can be looking for redemption after the 9X8 was denied its greatest end in FIA WEC to-date in Qatar 12 months in the past when Jean-Éric Vergne ran out of gasoline on the final lap whereas on-course to scoop the runner-up spoils.

Sequence sophomores Alpine and BMW, lastly, are bidding to construct upon late-season momentum from 2024 – with Robin Frijns placing the Bavarian model on the high of the testing timesheets, because the quickest three Hypercars all dipped beneath the present lap file.

“All the things feels good,” mirrored the Dutchman. “Getting the chance to do some driving at night time throughout the Prologue was necessary, and now, we have to put all of the items of the puzzle collectively and put together ourselves for the race.”

ROSSI AIMING TO REPRISE QATAR RECORD

In LMGT3, TF Sport (Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R), Akkodis ASP Staff (Lexus RC F LMGT3) and Vista AF Corse (Ferrari 296 LMGT3) all seemed sharp throughout testing. The Staff WRT-run BMW M4 LMGT3s have been constantly there-or-thereabouts, too, with the Belgian squad’s famous person driver – nine-time motorcycling world champion Valentino Rossi – a a number of winner in Qatar on two wheels earlier in his profession.

Keen eyes, in the meantime, can be educated on Iron Lynx’s pair of Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 challengers, because the German producer makes its keenly-anticipated debut within the championship forward of a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June for the primary time in additional than a quarter-of-a-century.

The on-track periods will start with free follow on Wednesday, 26 February, adopted by qualifying – and the all-important Hyperpole – from 17:00 native time (15:00 CET) on Thursday, 27 February. The race will get underway at 14:00 native time (12:00 CET) on Friday, 28 February.