2025 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa

The second round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship took place at Spa Franchorchamps – a legendary racetrack that needs no introduction. The event was an action-packed affair, with the frontrunners from Imola struggling for pace at Spa.

Historic 1-2

WRT BMW had a dream Hypercar race at Spa, claiming their first 1-2 finish and the marque’s first victory since the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. BMW #20 (Rast/S. van der Linde/Frijns) qualified 11^th and changed strategy early on, resulting in them leading the race by half distance. Despite the drama that followed, the team controlled the race from the front to take an emphatic victory. Teammates #15 (Magnussen/Marciello/D. Vanthoor) kept a snapping trio of Hypercars at bay to ensure a double victory for the team.

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Not on the Pace

Ferrari only had one machine make it to Hyperpole (the top 10 qualifying shootout), namely, the #50 AF Corse machine (Molina/Nielsen/Fuoco). They ran solidly throughout the race and was embroiled in a frenetic battle for the podium positions, finishing third.

Ferrari #51 (Giovinazzi/Calado/Pier Guidi), the reigning world champions, failed to finish the race, being removed from ninth position by Akkodis Lexus #78 (polesitter on the LMGT3 class) at La Source hairpin. The Ferrari’s sidepod suffered extensive damage and Alessandro Pier Guidi was forced to retire with less than an hour remaining. The customer AF Corse #83 (Kubica/Ye/Hanson) managed to garner points by finishing sixth.

Proper Progress

Aston Martin showed strongly at Spa, with the two cars qualifying sixth and seventh, respectively. Both cars were looking to finish well in the points, unfortunately, #009 (Riberas/Sørensen) clashed with Alpine #35 with 30 minutes remaining. Riberas and Da Costa were vying for the same piece of tarmac, resulting in the #009 having to take evasive action and spinning into the barrier and retirement. Tincknell and Gamble in the #007 machine narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing a fine fourth.

Japanese Threat

As in 2025, the Toyota Racing struggled for pace at Spa. Both machines qualified poorly and used race strategy to get into a points-paying position. Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) changed strategy, which resulted in running in second position behind BMW #20 for much of the race. Unfortunately, the Imola winners dropped down the leaderboard in the final hour of racing.

Toyota #7 (Kobayashi/Conway/Devries) ran in fourth position in the final hour, vying for second place with WRT BMW #15, AF Corse Ferrari #50 and Aston Martin #007. Kobayashi’s Toyota was no match for Gamble’s Aston Martin in the chase up the hill to Les Combes on the penultimate lap of the race. The Toyota squad had to be satisfied with fifth place. Despite #8’s strong showing, they only managed to claim the final point on offer.

First Pole

Peugeot #94 (Jakobsen/Duval/Pourchaire) took the marque’s maiden pole position in the Hypercar class and ran strongly in the podium positions, before the machine saw its untimely end. Malthe Jakobsen had nowhere to go as #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes (Zelger/Cressoni/Hodenius) spun in front of him through Les Combes. Jakobsen tried to take avoiding action but destroyed his front left suspension on the stout Mercedes, resulting in retirement. Peugeot #93 (Vandoorne/Di Resta/Cassidy) set the fastest lap of the race on their way to a seventh-place finish.

Genesis Magma Racing had a reason to celebrate, as the #17 machine (Lotterer/Derani/Jaubert) ran flawlessly to finish in eighth place in only their second appearance.

American Challenge

JOTA Cadillac had mixed fortunes at Spa and #12 (Stevens/Deletraz/Nato) led the race in the first hour. A penalty cost them dearly and they slipped down the running order. A strategy change to soft tyres backfired and compromised a strong finish. They still managed to earn a couple of points for ninth position.

The #38 (Bamber/Bourdais/Aitken) machine had a trying day. While attempting to negotiate LMGT3 traffic, Bamber and LMGT3 The Bend Manthey Porsche #92 (Shahin/Pera/Lietz) came together, resulting in both visiting pitlane for repairs. Unfortunately, #38 had brake issues, which plagued the car since before the incident, resulting in the car being retired.

GT3 LM

AF Corse Ferrari #21 (Heriau/Mann/Rovera) dominated the GT3LM class. The entire LMGT3 field was peppered with penalties, predominantly due to track limits. While Ferrari #21 led a gaggle of cars to the chequered flag, they were slapped with a five-second penalty for unsafe release in the pits with less than 20 minutes remaining. As a result, they were classified fourth.

Mac Attack

Garage 59 McLaren #10 (Au/Fleming/Kirchhöfer) were rewarded with class victory, after their retirement from a strong showing at Imola. Heart of Racing Aston Martin #27 (James/Robichon/Drudi) were classified second, ahead of The Bend Mathey Porsche #92 after their offtrack adventure earlier in the race. The second Garage 59 McLaren, #58 (West/Gehrsitz/Goethe) rounded off the top five finishers.

So Close

Ford threw away a potential victory at Spa. Mustang #77 (Powell, Tuck, Priaulx) led in the early stages of the race, before a mistake pitched debutant Powell into the kitty litter and brought out the first safety car for the day. Mustang #88 (Gattuso/Levorato/Sargeant) ran strongly in second place, vying for the lead, before being penalised three times for various infringements and scoring no points.

Points

The top ten finishers in each class score points. There are three points-scoring allocation forms, with different allocations for 6-hour, 8-10-hour and 24-hour events, respectively.

In the Hypercar class, Rast/Frijns lead the championship with 35 points, ahead of Hartley/Hirakawa/Buemi with 26 points. Sheldon van der Linde and the team of Kobayashi/Conway/de Vries lie third and fourth in the world championship standings, but tied on 25 points.

Pera/Lietz/Shahin lead the LMGT3 class with 30 points, ahead of Au/Kirchhöfer/Fleming (26 points), while McIntosh/Harper/Thompson lie third on 25 points.

The Big One

The third round of the World Endurance Championship takes place in France, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 13/14 June. This event is the jewel in the WEC crown and tickets for the race sold out soon after they were made available. There are no fewer than 300 000 spectators expected to turn up – this will be a humdinger!