2025 FIA World Endurance Championship
Thirteenth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship will be the thirteenth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series will be open to Hypercars (built under Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) or Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) regulations) and LMGT3 racing cars.
| 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship | |
|---|---|
| Organizer | Automobile Club de l'Ouest |
| Discipline | Sports car endurance racing |
| Number of races | 8 |
| Champions | |
| Hypercar Manufacturer | |
| Hypercar Team | |
| LMGT3 Team | |
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The Porsche No. 6 drivers of Team Penske are the defending Hypercar World Endurance Drivers' Champions with Toyota defending the Manufacturer Championship.
From this season onwards, manufacturers will be required to field at least two cars in the Hypercar class to be allowed to participate. The same rule is already enforced in the LMGT3 category.[1] Additionally, in LMGT3 class the Bronze-rated driver will be obligated to take part in Qualifying session, but no longer in Hyperpole session. Furthermore, the maximum grid size for this season has been increased from 37 to 40, to accommodate the increase in entries by Hypercar manufacturers who fielded only one car in the 2024 World Endurance Championship.[2]
Calendar
The calendar was announced on 14 June 2024, during the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend. The calendar is unchanged from 2024, with the Imola Circuit featuring on the calendar until at least 2028, with the circuit committing to building additional pit garages.[3]
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| Rnd | Race | Circuit | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | Losail International Circuit |  Lusail |
21/22 February | |
| 1 | Qatar 1812 km | 28 February | ||
| 2 | 6 Hours of Imola | Imola Circuit |  Imola |
20 April |
| 3 | 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps |  Stavelot |
10 May |
| 4 | 24 Hours of Le Mans | Circuit de la Sarthe |  Le Mans |
14–15 June |
| 5 | 6 Hours of São Paulo | Interlagos Circuit |  São Paulo |
13 July |
| 6 | Lone Star Le Mans | Circuit of the Americas |  Austin, Texas |
7 September |
| 7 | 6 Hours of Fuji | Fuji Speedway |  Oyama, Shizuoka |
28 September |
| 8 | 8 Hours of Bahrain | Bahrain International Circuit |  Sakhir |
8 November |
Entries
Summarize
Perspective
Hypercar
Racing in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams
Hypercar team changes
- Having pulled out midway through the 2024 season, Isotta Fraschini did not return to the series.[21]
Lamborghini (left) left WEC after one season, as Aston Martin (right) joined the Hypercar grid.
- Lamborghini exited WEC after a single year amid a breakdown in relations with service provider Iron Lynx.[22] Riley Motorsports will run the car instead for a reduced IMSA endurance-only program.[23]
- Five years after withdrawing its early commitment to the Hypercar formula, Aston Martin entered the class with a modified, non-hybrid version of its Valkyrie. The car, operated by The Heart of Racing (THOR) and Multimatic, was the first sports prototype by the British brand since the AMR-One LMP1.[4]
- Chip Ganassi Racing and General Motors parted ways at the end of 2024, with Porsche customer Jota Sport moving over to run Cadillac's factory programme.[24][9] The American marque doubled up to align with a new rule requiring manufacturers to enter a minimum of two cars.[25]
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Hypercar driver changes
- Aston Martin THOR Team recruited two-time LMGTE Pro world champion Marco Sørensen, Multimatic factory driver Harry Tincknell (who raced for Proton the previous year), McLaren man Tom Gamble, and promoted Alex Riberas from Heart of Racing's GT ranks.[6] IMSA full-season pairing Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis complemented the team at the longer races.[5]
- Porsche Penske Motorsport reshuffled and downsized its lineup, as Matt Campbell returned to IMSA, reigning champion André Lotterer was dropped and Proton's Julien Andlauer was signed to replace Alpine-bound Frédéric Makowiecki. Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet rounded out the crews at selected races.[7]
- Jenson Button, Norman Nato and Will Stevens followed Hertz Team Jota in its link-up with Cadillac, and were joined by incumbent works drivers Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn.[10]
- Jota's Callum Ilott and AF Corse's Robert Shwartzman both left the series to lead Prema Racing's new IndyCar Series project.[26][27] The latter was replaced at AF Corse by former Jota driver Phil Hanson.[15] Oliver Rasmussen in turn migrated to Super Formula with Team Impul.[28]
- Ex-Formula One driver Kevin Magnussen, who had backed out of his Peugeot contract in 2022 to race for Haas, finally made his Hypercar debut with BMW M Team WRT. He replaced Marco Wittmann, who moved to IMSA on a full-time basis.[12]
- Alpine Endurance Team hired Frédéric Makowiecki from Porsche following Nicolas Lapierre's retirement. Reserve driver Jules Gounon stepped up to a race seat, swapping roles with Matthieu Vaxivière.[13]
- Nico Müller departed Peugeot TotalEnergies to join Andretti's Formula E team and Porsche's works driver pool.[29] Paul Di Resta moved back to the #93 car, as reserve driver Malthe Jakobsen was promoted to a race seat in the #94.[17] Peugeot subsequently signed 2023 Formula 2 champion Théo Pourchaire for test and development duties.[30]
- In the wake of Andlauer and Tincknell's exits, Proton Competition completed its trio with a pair of South American youngsters: Nico Pino, a podium finisher in LMP2 and LMGT3, and Corvette factory driver Nicolás Varrone, who won the final GTE Am title in 2023.[20]
LMGT3
LMGT3 team changes
- The LMGT3 category's colour code changed from orange to green, last used by LMGTE Pro in 2022.[51]
- French-Swiss team Racing Spirit of Léman, based nearby the namesake lake, made its series debut replacing D'station Racing as the second of Aston Martin's Prodrive-run customers.[31]
- In the wake of Lamborghini's full-scale exit from WEC, Iron Lynx partnered up with Mercedes-AMG to field a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos. The tie-up marked the German manufacturer's WEC debut, and also Iron Lynx's fourth brand affiliation in as many years.[42]
- Iron Dames did not follow its parent team to Mercedes, instead opting to rejoin the Porsche fold with Manthey Racing.[49] Reigning champion Pure Rxcing did not defend its title and switched focus to LMP2.[52]
The No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing did not defend their LMGT3 Endurance Trophy
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See also
Notes
- Boguslavskiy is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor as Russian national emblems were banned by the FIA following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
References
External links
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