Six-Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Sometimes it feels like there is far too long between World Endurance Championship rounds, and other times it's not long enough to fully digest what happened at the previous race. Of course, there are almost 3 Formula 1 Grand Prix lengths in a 6-hour event, and almost 8 Moto GP Grand Prix, if we just consider the time alone. The Six Hours of Spa will take place between 08/05/2025 and 10/05/2025, marking the third round of the World Endurance Championship.

How does the weekend lineup? If, like me, you are a novice in this championship, you might like to know what you're in store for over a WEC weekend. Practice 1 and 2 take place on the Friday, each session lasting 90 minutes. Saturday morning we'll get another round of free practice, for 60 minutes this time, before it's time for the qualifying sessions. The session is broken down into 2 for each of the categories, with each category getting their own time to shine. The Hypercar and LMGT3 series will each get 12 minutes to qualify, with the fastest 10 cars progressing to the Hyperpole session, which is a further 10 minutes. It's very similar to the Moto GP qualifying format, and is designed to be a mini-Le Mans qualifying session.

From there, it's time for the race, which in this instance is 6 hours around one of the best circuits in the world. Yeah I said it, Spa-Francorchamps is an all-time classic circuit. Deep in the Ardennes Forest, this 7.004 km (4.352 mi) circuit has it all; long straights, tight chicanes, long corners, fast sections, heavy braking zones, you name it, Spa delivers. It's also notorious for throwing up unusual weather, so there's always that to look forward to.

Last year, Hertz Team JOTA became the first privateer to win a race in WEC's Hypercar era, to which Will Stevens reflected that "Winning as a customer team was a really special moment for us as JOTA. It was a chaotic race with the red flag and everything that went on, we executed a good strategy, so it will be cool going back". Team JOTA have since partnered with Cadillac, so they are much more a force to be reconned with.

They are, however, up against Ferrari, who are really running away with things in 2025, taking victory in Qatar and on home-turf last time out in Imola. Ferrari currently lead the way with 92 points ahead of BMW with 63, and Toyota with 53. Cadillac are down in sixth currently with only 11 to their name, in the Hypercar series.

It's of course not just the Hypercars where things are really hotting up, the LMGT3 series has seen six different teams on the two podiums this year so far. Valentino Rossi narrowly missed out on the victory in Imola, finishing just 0.316 seconds behind the #92 Porsche.

Keep your eyes peeled this weekend for more WEC content right here at Ahead At The Apex.