FIA WEC title chase heats up as Spa-Francorchamps is up next
Round three of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, will see 19 Hypercar and 18 LMGT3 entries tackle the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit this weekend
The iconic race track located in the Ardennes forest of Wallonia, Belgium, is famous for its drivers’ and fans’ favourite layout, as well for its ever-changing weather conditions.
The six-hour race also traditionally serves as the ultimate test for the teams ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. During each tour of the seven-kilometre circuit Hypercar drivers shift gears 44 times, reaching top speeds in the range of 315kph and traveling 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 drivers from 28 different countries will race at Spa-Francorchamps as the WEC continues to grow from strength to strength in its 12th season.
The entry list features five Belgian drivers for the home fans to support, including sibling duo Laurens (current Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ Championship leader) and Dries Vanthoor, representing Porsche Penske and BMW M Team WRT respectively.
In LMGT3, Belgian squad Team WRT will be a firm favourite amongst the home fans with the local squad seeing home hero Maxime Martin drive alongside Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy in the #46 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. German-born Porsche Penske’s André Lotterer also has close ties with Belgium with his mother being Belgian and having grown up in the country.
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 four teams in Hypercar will operate two-man teams, with several drivers set for ABB FIA Formula E World Championship duty in Berlin. The list includes Hertz team JOTA (Will Stevens and Callum Ilott); #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies (Mikkel Jensen and Nico Mueller); #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.
In LMGT3, Doriane Pin will be subbed by the experienced Rahel Frey due to Pin’s commitments in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine while Japan’s Ritomo Miyata – Toyota Gazoo Racing’s official reserve driver – will step in for Kelvin van der Linde in the Akkodis ASP Team’s Lexus RC F LMGT3 entry.
In the Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship standings, it’s round one victors Porsche that tops the leaderboard with 57 points, just nine points ahead of Toyota, winner last time out at Imola. Ferrari sits third with 31 points, 14 points ahead of BMW and 16 ahead of Alpine.
However, with Toyota Gazoo Racing having won the last seven WEC races at the Belgian venue, the pressure will be on the Japanese manufacturer to maintain its winning streak and topple Porsche at the top of the standings.
In LMGT3, after a strong solid start to the season including a victory in Qatar, Manthey PureRxcing leads the standings with 54 points. Thanks to the recent win at Imola, Team WRT is levelled on points with Heart of Racing, with both outfits having collected 37 points so far.
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).