WEC News: 6 Hours of Spa Preview, Ferrari throttled

Round three of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, will see 19 Hypercar and 18 LMGT3 entries tackle the legendary Belgian circuit later this week (9 – 11 May).

The iconic racetrack located in the Ardennes forest of Stavelot, Wallonia, is famous for its ever-changing weather conditions and also serves as the ultimate test for teams ahead of the all-important 24 Hours of Le Mans (15-16 June). During each tour of the 7-kilomtere circuit, Hypercar drivers shift gears 44 times, reaching top speeds in the range of 315kph and travelling with fully-opened throttle for 58% of the lap.

Fourteen manufacturers (Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota), 37 cars (19 Hypercars ; 18 LMGT3 entries) and 106 highly-esteemed drivers from 28 different countries will race at Spa-Francorchamps as the WEC continues to grow from strength to strength for its 12th season.

The entry list also features five Belgian drivers for the home fans to support including sibling duo Laurens and Dries Vanthoor, representing Porsche Penske and BMW M Team WRT respectively. In LMGT3, Belgian-based Team WRT will be a firm favorite amongst the home fans with the local squad seeing home hero Maxime Martin drive alongside Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Hathy in the No. 31 BMW M4 LMGT3.  TF Sport sees Belgium’s Tom Van Rompuy within their line-up, while Iron Dames has local star Sarah Bovy – who was born in Liege, just 50km from Spa-Francorchamps. Despite being born in Germany, Porsche Penske’s Andre Lotterer also has close ties with Belgium having grown up in the country alongside his Belgian mother.

Since the last WEC race in Imola just over two weeks ago, there are a few notable changes to the entry list. A total of five teams in Hypercar will operate two-man teams due to race clashes the same weekend including Hertz team JOTA (Will Stevens and Callum Ilott); No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies (Mikkel Jensen and Nico Mueller); No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies (Paul Di Resta and Loic Duval); Cadillac Racing (Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn) and Proton Competition (Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer). Lamborghini Iron Lynx’s line-up will see a driver swap for this race as Edoardo Mortara is replaced by Italy’s Andrea Caldarelli.

The Gods clip Ferrari’s wings with BoP

Ferrari has been hit with the largest weight increase in the Hypercar Balance of Performance for this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship round at Spa.

A bulletin issued on Tuesday shows that the Italian manufacturer’s 499P has had its minimum weight upped by 12 kg for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, bringing it up from 1041 kg to 1053 kg.

As well as the largest weight increase, the Ferrari 499P that locked out the top three positions in qualifying at its home venue last month has been given the largest power decrease of 4 kW, or just over 5 hp.

(*) value that may be reviewed (**) WET =wet tires fitted

In LMGT3, Doriane Pin will be subbed by exeprienced driver Rahel Frey due to Pin’s race commitments with FRECA while Japan’s Ritomo Miyata – official reserve driver for Toyota – will step in for Kelvin van der Linde in the Akkodis ASP Team’s Lexus RC F LMGT3 entry.

In the overall Hypercar championship standings, it’s round one victors Porsche that top the leaderboard with 57 points – just nine points ahead of Toyota who took the win last time out at Imola. Ferrari sit third with 31 points, 14 points ahead of BMW and 16 ahead of Alpine who are currently fifth.  However, with Toyota Gazoo Racing having won the last seven WEC races at Spa – the pressure will be on the Japanese manufacturer to maintain its winning streak in Belgium to topple Porsche at the top of the standings.

In LMGT3 and after a strong solid start to the season so far including a round one victory in Qatar, it’s Manthey PureRXcing that lead the standings with 54 points. Thanks to their recent win at Imola, Team WRT are in joint second alongside Heart of Racing with 37 points.

The FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams is even closer with just one point currently separating Hertz Team JOTA (53 points) and AF Corse (52 points). A total of 26 points is available in Belgium (25 for the race and one extra point for pole position).

LMGT3 BoP Changes

(*) speed threshold may be reviewed Adjustments are made with: the data & information provided by the manufacturers, the analysis made by ACO/FiA

WHERE TO WATCH

Several broadcasters across the world will broadcast the FIA WEC this weekend including a mix of pan-regional deals and various FTA, linear and online channels.

FIAWEC.TV will also broadcast Spa live on its online platform.  This is available worldwide. Individual race packages are available to buy for 8.99 Euros or fans. Available on the app will be qualifying, race replays and full English commentary from experts Anthony Davidson, Martin Haven, Graham Goodwin as well as pitlane reporter, Bruce Jouanny.  For more information about the app, click HERE.

Action from Free Practice 3 on Friday (10 May) will be live to watch on the FIA WEC YouTube channel.

TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Race Timetable (local time)

Thursday 9 May

Free Practice 1: 11:30 – 13:00

Free Practice 2: 17:30 – 19:00

Friday 10 May

Free Practice 3: 11:00 – 12:00

Qualifying + Hyperpole: 14:45 – 16:05

Saturday 11 May

Race: 13:00 – 19:00