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The third race of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will see a multi-brand battle at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. In what is the dress rehearsal for the 24 hours of LeMans in June at Circuit de la Sarthe. Aston Martin, Cadillac, Corvette, Ferrari, Lexus, Porsche and Toyota, among others will take to the 4.352 mile, 19 turn track with fast sweeping corners.*
Ferrari AF Corse took its third successive pole position in 2025. Antonio Fuoco drove a 1:59.617s lap take the top spot in the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. Fuoco took the pole by a mere 0.347s. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari joined the #50 car on the front row of the grid, as Robert Kubica was the only other driver to dip below the two-minute mark with a 1:59.964s best run. Making it a 1-2-3 for Ferrari was Antonio Giovinazzi in the Imola-winning #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. He set a 2:00.201s best in the car that had been repaired after the Italian crashed in the FP2 session on Thursday afternoon. Giovinazzi survived a late scare with a gravelly slide on the exit of Les Combes.
The best non-Ferrari performer was the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercar, driven by local Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne, in the most competitive showing for Peugeot in recent times. The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Hypercar took fifth ahead of the #36 Alpine in sixth, with Alex Lynn and Mick Schumacher setting the best laps respectively.
The remainder of the top ten comprised the #93 Peugeot in seventh, #20 BMW in eighth, #35 Alpine in ninth, and #38 Cadillac in tenth. Porsche Penske, Aston Martin THOR, and Toyota Gazoo Racing all failed to progress through the qualifying period and into the Hyperpole session. (Aston Martin will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June, where it last recorded overall victory in 1959 when Carroll Shelby (USA) and Roy Salvadori (GBR) won in the Aston Martin DBR1 – AutoCrat)
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In the LMGT3 class Finn Gehrsitz the pole position with a fast lap of 2:17.732s in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus. The young German claimed his first ever WEC pole and the first top spot for Akkodis ASP in the WEC. Joining Lexus on the front row of the grid was the #10 Racing Spirit of Le Mans Aston Martin, as Edoardo Barrichello got to within 0.276s of the pole time.
The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 placed third. Ben Tuck seized a late quick lap to claim the team’s best qualifying result of the season.
TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R will lead the two-Corvette attack on the Six Hours of Spa on Saturday after qualifying Friday for the third round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.** Tom Van Rompuy will start 11th in the 18-car LMGT3 field following the 15-minute initial qualifying session with a lap of 2:20.215 (111.723 mph). He missed getting into the 10-car Hyperpole session for the third straight race by a little less than a half-second. He and teammates Rui Andrade and factory driver Charlie Eastwood are looking to continue their momentum from a sixth-place class result and its first finish in the points of the year last time out in Imola three weeks ago.
The LMGT3 championship-leading No. 33 Corvette of Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating will start 17th in class after Friday’s qualifying. A winner at the season-opening round in Qatar, the No. 33 entry has started outside the top-10 at each round so far. Despite being the heaviest car in class at all three races this season – including by 51 pounds at Spa due to the class’s mandatory success handicap – the strategy and execution by the No. 33 team has offset that disadvantage, resulting in a victory to start 2025 and a seventh-place finish at Imola.
This is the fifth straight year for the Corvette program at the Six Hours of Spa with a best result of runner-up in the 2023 GTE Am class, an entry that Keating was part of.
Driving the Iron Dames 911 GT3 R, Frenchwoman Célia Martin set the 13th fastest time in the first qualifying. The successful initiative aimed at promoting women in motorsport works closely with Porsche Motorsport this year.
Spa Qualifying results
Hypercar class:
- Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (ITA/ESP/DNK), Ferrari #50, 1.59.617 minutes
- Kubica/Ye/Hanson (POL/CHN/GBR), Ferrari #83, 1.59.964 minutes
- Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi (ITA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #51, 2.00.201 minutes
- Estre/Vanthoor/Wehrlein (FRA/BEL/DEU), Porsche 963 #6, 2.01.512 minutes
- Andlauer/Christensen/Müller (FRA/DNK/SUI), Porsche 963 #5, 2.01.588 minutes
- Jani/Pino/Varrone (SUI/CHL/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, 2.01.837 minutes
LMGT3 class:
- Robin/Gehrsitz/Nakayama (FRA/DEU/JPN), Lexus #78, 2.17.732 minutes
- Deboer/Barrichello/Hasse Clot (USA/BRA/FRA), Aston Martin #10, 2.18.008 minutes
- Sousa/Tuck/Barker (POR/GBR/GBR), Ford #77, 2.18.016 minutes
- Hardwick/Lietz/Pera (USA/AUT/ITA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 2.18.917 minutes
- Frey/Gatting/Martin (SUI/DNK/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, 2.20.20 minutes
Full results and championship standings https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com
*The 2025 TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled for 8 a.m. ET / 2 p.m. CET Saturday. Live streaming coverage will be available on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage. The latest results and championship standings are at https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com.
** Corvette Racing at Spa-Francorchamps
- 2021 – No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Oliver Gavin – 4th in GTE Pro
- 2022 – No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 4th in GTE Pro
- 2023 – No. 33 Corvette C8.R: Nicky Catsburg/Ben Keating/Nico Varrone – 2nd in GTE Am
- 2024 – No. 81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Charlie Eastwood/Rui Andrade/Tom Van Rompuy – 17th in LMGT3 (DNF). No. 82 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Daniel Juncadella/Sebastien Baud/Hiroshi Koizumi – 12th in LMGT3
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About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Spa-Francorchamps – LeMans Dress Rehearsal this Weekend
Click for more.
The third race of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will see a multi-brand battle at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. In what is the dress rehearsal for the 24 hours of LeMans in June at Circuit de la Sarthe. Aston Martin, Cadillac, Corvette, Ferrari, Lexus, Porsche and Toyota, among others will take to the 4.352 mile, 19 turn track with fast sweeping corners.*
Ferrari AF Corse took its third successive pole position in 2025. Antonio Fuoco drove a 1:59.617s lap take the top spot in the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. Fuoco took the pole by a mere 0.347s. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari joined the #50 car on the front row of the grid, as Robert Kubica was the only other driver to dip below the two-minute mark with a 1:59.964s best run. Making it a 1-2-3 for Ferrari was Antonio Giovinazzi in the Imola-winning #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. He set a 2:00.201s best in the car that had been repaired after the Italian crashed in the FP2 session on Thursday afternoon. Giovinazzi survived a late scare with a gravelly slide on the exit of Les Combes.
The best non-Ferrari performer was the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercar, driven by local Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne, in the most competitive showing for Peugeot in recent times. The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Hypercar took fifth ahead of the #36 Alpine in sixth, with Alex Lynn and Mick Schumacher setting the best laps respectively.
The remainder of the top ten comprised the #93 Peugeot in seventh, #20 BMW in eighth, #35 Alpine in ninth, and #38 Cadillac in tenth. Porsche Penske, Aston Martin THOR, and Toyota Gazoo Racing all failed to progress through the qualifying period and into the Hyperpole session. (Aston Martin will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June, where it last recorded overall victory in 1959 when Carroll Shelby (USA) and Roy Salvadori (GBR) won in the Aston Martin DBR1 – AutoCrat)
Click for more.
In the LMGT3 class Finn Gehrsitz the pole position with a fast lap of 2:17.732s in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus. The young German claimed his first ever WEC pole and the first top spot for Akkodis ASP in the WEC. Joining Lexus on the front row of the grid was the #10 Racing Spirit of Le Mans Aston Martin, as Edoardo Barrichello got to within 0.276s of the pole time.
The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 placed third. Ben Tuck seized a late quick lap to claim the team’s best qualifying result of the season.
TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R will lead the two-Corvette attack on the Six Hours of Spa on Saturday after qualifying Friday for the third round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.** Tom Van Rompuy will start 11th in the 18-car LMGT3 field following the 15-minute initial qualifying session with a lap of 2:20.215 (111.723 mph). He missed getting into the 10-car Hyperpole session for the third straight race by a little less than a half-second. He and teammates Rui Andrade and factory driver Charlie Eastwood are looking to continue their momentum from a sixth-place class result and its first finish in the points of the year last time out in Imola three weeks ago.
The LMGT3 championship-leading No. 33 Corvette of Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating will start 17th in class after Friday’s qualifying. A winner at the season-opening round in Qatar, the No. 33 entry has started outside the top-10 at each round so far. Despite being the heaviest car in class at all three races this season – including by 51 pounds at Spa due to the class’s mandatory success handicap – the strategy and execution by the No. 33 team has offset that disadvantage, resulting in a victory to start 2025 and a seventh-place finish at Imola.
This is the fifth straight year for the Corvette program at the Six Hours of Spa with a best result of runner-up in the 2023 GTE Am class, an entry that Keating was part of.
Driving the Iron Dames 911 GT3 R, Frenchwoman Célia Martin set the 13th fastest time in the first qualifying. The successful initiative aimed at promoting women in motorsport works closely with Porsche Motorsport this year.
Spa Qualifying results
Hypercar class:
LMGT3 class:
Full results and championship standings https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com
*The 2025 TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled for 8 a.m. ET / 2 p.m. CET Saturday. Live streaming coverage will be available on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage. The latest results and championship standings are at https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com.
** Corvette Racing at Spa-Francorchamps
AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.