At the turn of the new year, Motorsport Week identified five key stories to follow in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season.
A new year has marked the beginning of another exciting chapter for the FIA WEC.
In the 13th season, the WEC has a mixture of newcomers as well as key storylines to follow throughout the eight-round calendar.
Hypercar continues bubbling with competition as LMGT3 will showcase another year of exciting racing and mystery around which teams will fight to the title.
Two significant changes have come in the form of one new Hypercar project and a new LMGT3 manufacturer, but there are even more aspects to anticipate in this year’s racing season.
Return of the V12 soundtrack to the top class
Whilst this is applicable to both the WEC and IMSA SportsCar Championship, the WEC has never hosted a V12-engined competitor amidst many symphonic soundtracks.
Heart of Racing will run a pair of Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercars – numbered #007 and #009 – in the 2025 campaign, and one single GTP entrant in the IMSA Endurance Cup schedule.
They claimed one LMGT3 victory during the 2024 season where they converted pole position into victory at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Incidentally, Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 (2012-2017) was the last race car to feature a naturally aspirated V12 powertrain though its LMGTE counterpart used a V8.
The two Valkyries will be the championship’s newest Hypercar and will be the sole entrants not using a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain, instead petrol-only.
Given that it is a new car, one cannot expect the Valkyrie to start winning instantly with the initial priority on gaining more mileage and preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Their AMR-One V12 – which last competed in the ACO’s Intercontinental Le Mans Cup – never became a reliable challenger to their nearest LMP1 rivals Pescarolo, Rebellion Racing and Hope Racing.
This year, it seems, will be a second chance at bringing the sound of the V12 back to Le Mans and into the WEC with high aspirations.
After Alpine and BMW claimed podiums in their first WEC Hypercar season, so the pressure is on to see whether Heart of Racing can do the same in their maiden Hypercar season.
READ MORE: Alex Riberas and Harry Tincknell named in AMR Hypercar effort
Ferrari’s chance to hat trick at Le Mans
The Maralleno make returned to the top class of endurance racing in 2023 to majestically win the decorated Centenary edition of Le Mans.
After the other car – the #50 Ferrari 499P LMH – won last year, they could be on track to score a unique hat trick with a third consecutive victory on 14-15 June 2025.
Outside Le Mans, the privateer-funded #83 Ferrari scored their only win at the Lone Star Le Mans (6H COTA).
Ferrari missed out on chances such as Imola where they opted against splitting tyre strategies in response to the rainfall which rendered most of the circuit wet, but in more places than others so as to leave dry areas.
The 1-hour and 44-minute extension at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps followed an extensive red flag period which also put a stop on their victory hopes outside Le Mans.
Before Toyota’s streak from 2018-2022, Porsche accomplished a triple Le Mans-win streak during their LMP1-H project from 2015-17.
Nine Hypercar manufacturers compared to three in the former LMP1-H era has made this feat an impressive showcase by Ferrari after closely denying Toyota’s #7 GR010 Hybrid at last year’s Le Mans.
With three Hypercars once again this year, Ferrari will certainly need to work hard in order to stand on the highest Le Mans podium for a third time.
Even more so, Ferrari’s factory 499Ps will need to win at least one race outside Le Mans in order to genuinely compete for the championship title.
Iron Lynx’s new effort with Mercedes-AMG
Could the newest LMGT3 manufacturer take down the dominant force of Manthey Porsche?
This may be the case as despite the new presence of an AMG GT3 in the WEC paddock, the package itself has proved competitive amongst numerous other sportscar championships including at prominent races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Bathurst and the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring.
Iron Lynx only fielded Ferrari and Porsche GTE machinery before the first LMGT3 season last year with Lamborghini.
Unfortunately for both parties, the campaign fell short of expectations with reliability issues particularly hampering the results of the Iron Dames – who are distinctly from the Iron Lynx name.
Iron Lynx will bring their WEC Le Mans experience into the new Mercedes partnership with the hope for much more in competitive form against the eight other LMGT3 manufacturers.
Maxime Martin made the move from BMW with three more drivers yet to be confirmed across the #60 and #61 entrants.
JOTA as a Cadillac factory team
For the first time in their history, JOTA has become a fully fledged factory team as they will represent the Cadillac brand in the 2025 WEC.
The team has competed in the WEC’s LMP2 category since 2016, but racing in sportscars since 2004, and made their top-class WEC debut in 2023.
Midway through the season at the 6 Hours of Spa, they became Porsche’s first Hypercar customer team racing in the WEC before Proton Competition fielded their Porsche at the 6 Hours of Monza.
The Tunbridge Wells-based name took 13 Le Mans podium finishes in 11 years plus numerous others during in WEC LMP2 competition.
One year after their Hypercar debut, they triumphed at the 2024 6 Hours – or 7-hours and 44-minutes – of Spa towards an unexpected victory before eventually claiming the Hypercar World Cup title against the #83 AF Corse and #99 Proton.
Their jump to two entries gave them more presence in 2024 as now their Cadillac era will commence.
The #2 Chip Ganassi V-Series.R qualified in the top-four across four consecutive races, from Spa to COTA.
Alex Lynn then put it on pole at Fuji although the incident between his co-driver Earl Bamber and Alpine’s Mick Schumacher during the race dramatically ended their winning aspirations.
Their driver lineup combines a wealth of experience at both the JOTA team and behind the wheel of the Cadillac V-Series.R.
JOTA were the underdogs of the Hypercar grid as a Porsche customer team but now there is potential to aim further towards the aim of winning races.
Who else will challenge Porsche and Toyota
Despite the mixture of Hypercar manufacturers, and the fact last year saw six overall race winners which was the most ever seen in the WEC, the key rivalry is undoubtedly between Porsche Penske and Toyota GAZOO Racing.
The championship battle was fiercely close between the two automotive titans. Porsche’s #6 963 crew won the Drivers’ Championship whilst Toyota snatched the Manufacturers’ by just two points.
Toyota won more races than Porsche Penske, excluding JOTA’s Spa win, although there is much more than meets the eye which highlighted these two manufacturers as protagonists.
They have run in the WEC since the very first season in 2012 and has competed in the Hypercar category since its inception in 2021.
Their vast experience lends towards making the most of difficult situations, utilising their GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar package and not only finishing Le Mans, but winning it too.
The 6 Hours of Imola was a prime example where Nyck de Vries overcame his #50 AF Corse rival Nicklas Nielsen as his quicker reactions after a full-course-yellow benefited the Dutchman.
At Le Mans, the #7 Toyota kept the winning-#50 under pressure with just 14.221 seconds separating the pair at the checkered flag.
Porsche produced more consistent results which enabled their #6 crew to win the Drivers’ title.
Sebastien Buemi redeemed his aggressive defence on Kevin Estre at COTA with one of the toughest stints in his career.
Buemi took the 8 Hours of Bahrain win and clenched Toyota’s fourth consecutive Hypercar Manufacturers’ title.
So the intriguing question stands on whether Ferrari AF Corse can challenge the two manufacturers or if one of the other seven Hypercar manufacturers can join the title brawl…
