Ferrari kicks off WEC 2025 with a hat-trick in Qatar

The start of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season was dominated by Ferrari, achieving a 1-2-3 finish in the 1812 km of Qatar. The Italian brand controlled the race with its three AF Corse 499P Hypercars, with the privateer #83 team taking victory over the factory #51 and #50 cars.

A race with multiple lead changes

Antonio Giovinazzi secured pole position in the Ferrari #51, and during the early stages of the race, all three of the brand's prototypes led at different times. However, a pit stop under Virtual Safety Car conditions dropped the #51 to the edge of the top ten, shifting the spotlight to the privateer Ferrari #83.

This car, driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and the newly joined Philip Hanson, climbed through the field after taking advantage of an incident between the BMW #15 and the Ferrari #50. During the final pit stop sequence, Antonio Fuoco, at the wheel of the #83, managed to overtake Kubica and hold off his challenge to the finish line to secure the victory.

The Italian acknowledged the difficulty of the final laps: “We did a triple stint with the left-side tires, which made tire management tricky towards the end as the #51 and #83 were closing in fast. It was a challenge to manage the pace, but we achieved the result we wanted for the team.”

Kubica, despite pressure from Alessandro Pier Guidi in the closing laps, held onto second place for the privateer team, crossing the finish line just three-tenths of a second ahead of the factory Ferrari. The brand's last 1-2-3 finish in the top category had not been seen since the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967.

BMW and Toyota among the best of the rest

The BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 of WRT finished fourth with Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, and Kevin Magnussen at the wheel. Their race had ups and downs due to a pit limiter issue and contact with an LMGT3 car, but the team managed to recover positions in the final stages.

Toyota, the reigning manufacturers' champion, completed the top six with its GR010 Hybrids, led by the #8. The Japanese brand had to recover from the back of the grid after a difficult qualifying session.

Cadillac, meanwhile, suffered from an incident between its own cars. Earl Bamber had climbed from 17th to third, but contact between Alex Lynn and Jenson Button during a race restart left the team without a chance to fight for a better result.

Alpine had a promising start with Ferdinand Habsburg holding third place early on, but their pace dropped off as the race progressed. Porsche, which won in Qatar in 2024, could only salvage a single point with its #5 car, which lacked the expected performance.

Juncadella and Corvette take LMGT3 victory

The LMGT3 category had a tight finish, with Daniel Juncadella securing victory for TF Sport and their Corvette #33 after holding off Grégoire Saucy in the final hour. Less than half a second separated the two cars at the finish line.

The Corvette was not among the favorites after qualifying 13th, but Juncadella, Jonny Edgar, and Ben Keating managed to recover despite early mistakes. With this result, the team adds another win following its success in Daytona and two podiums in the last WEC race in Bahrain.

Juncadella highlighted the intensity of the finish: “In the final part of the race, my heart rate was 35 beats per minute higher than in my first stint. That says a lot about this battle.”

Behind Saucy, third place went to The Bend Team WRT with Sébastien Baud, James Cottingham, and Timur Boguslavskiy, who withstood pressure from Ben Barnicoat (Lexus) and Alessio Rovera (Ferrari) in a finish where all three cars crossed the line just 0.343 seconds apart.

The second round of the 2025 FIA WEC will take place from April 18 to 20 in Imola.