WEC

Ferrari places three cars at the front of the grid at Spa

Italians set the pace in qualifying while Lexus surprises in LMGT3

Photos : Maxime Lantz
2025/05/09
Spa-Francorchamps

Ferrari has placed its three cars in the top positions during the Hyperpole session of the 6 Hours of Spa. Antonio Fuoco set a time of 1m59.617s with the Ferrari 499P #50, being along with Robert Kubica the only drivers capable of breaking the two-minute barrier at the Belgian circuit.

The Italian outpaced Kubica by 0.347 seconds, who positioned the customer Ferrari #83 of AF Corse in second place. Antonio Giovinazzi completed the Italian marque's triple with the Ferrari #51 by setting a 2m00.201s, despite the incident suffered during Thursday's free practice.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Jota with options from fifth as Porsche falls behind

The Jota team, winner at Spa in 2024, qualified with its Cadillac V-Series.R LMD #12 driven by Alex Lynn in fifth position with a time of 2m00.246s. The Cadillac stands as the main non-Ferrari contender alongside the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH #94 of Stoffel Vandoorne, who finished fourth 0.601 seconds off pole.

Surprisingly, Porsche Penske Motorsport, last year's runner-up at Spa, failed to place any of its 963 LMDs in the Hyperpole session. Their cars ended up 12th and 13th with Kevin Estre and Julien Andlauer nearly 1.5 seconds off the fastest time.

Toyota struggles with Balance of Performance adjustments

Toyota Gazoo Racing has underperformed in this qualifying session, occupying 15th and 16th positions, only ahead of the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMHs. This contrasts sharply with their sixth and seventh places last year at this same circuit.

Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi were separated by just three thousandths in the two Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs, but 1.8 seconds behind Fuoco's time. The Japanese manufacturer has seen its power reduced by 20kW (25bhp) since the Imola race due to Balance of Performance adjustments.

The 2024 world constructors' champions face a challenging weekend if they aim to repeat last season's result when they placed both cars in the points.

Lexus surprises in LMGT3 as Manthey starts from the back

In the LMGT3 category, Finn Gehrsitz gave Lexus its first pole position with the RC F GT3 #78 from Akkodis ASP team. This marks a change from Manthey Racing's dominance in 2024 when the team achieved an impressive 1-2 with its Porsches.

The German set a time of 2m17.732s, beating Eduardo Barrichello in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 #10 of Spirit of Leman by 0.276 seconds. Ford completed the top four with its Mustang GT3s from Proton Competition driven by Ben Tuck and Giammarco Levorato.

The Manthey Porsches, last year's stars, will have to fight back from 26th on the grid to attempt repeating their previous success.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Weather factor and potential interruptions could change the race

The 6 Hours of Spa, third round of the 2025 WEC, begins this Saturday at 14:00 local time. This circuit is known for its variable conditions, as seen in the previous edition with a nearly two-hour red flag due to an incident on the Kemmel straight.

Ferrari starts with an advantage from the top three positions, but at Spa well-timed pit stops can completely change the final results. The Jota team experienced this firsthand when they claimed their first victory in the premier category during last season.

Qualifying Results - 6 Hours of Spa 2025

Pos	#	Drivers	Team	Category	Time	Gap
1	50	A. FUOCO / M. MOLINA / N. NIELSEN	Ferrari AF Corse	HYPERCAR H	1:59.617	-
2	83	R. KUBICA / Y. YE / P. HANSON	AF Corse	HYPERCAR H	1:59.964	0.347
3	51	A. PIER GUIDI / J. CALADO / A. GIOVINAZZI	Ferrari AF Corse	HYPERCAR H	2:00.201	0.584
4	94	L. DUVAL / M. JAKOBSEN / S. VANDOORNE	Peugeot TotalEnergies	HYPERCAR H	2:00.218	0.601
5	12	A. LYNN / N. NATO / W. STEVENS	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA	HYPERCAR H	2:00.246	0.629
6	36	J. GOUNON / F. MAKOWIECKI / M. SCHUMACHER	Alpine Endurance Team	HYPERCAR H	2:00.368	0.751
7	93	P. DI RESTA / M. JENSEN / J. VERGNE	Peugeot TotalEnergies	HYPERCAR H	2:00.440	0.823
8	20	R. FRIJNS / R. RAST	BMW M Team WRT	HYPERCAR H	2:00.456	0.839
9	35	P. CHATIN / F. HABSBURG / C. MILESI	Alpine Endurance Team	HYPERCAR H	2:00.763	1.146
10	38	E. BAMBER / S. BOURDAIS / J. BUTTON	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA	HYPERCAR H	2:00.887	1.270
11	15	K. MAGNUSSEN / R. MARCIELLO	BMW M Team WRT	HYPERCAR H	2:01.410	1.793
12	6	K. ESTRE / L. VANTHOOR / P. WEHRLEIN	Porsche Penske Motorsport	HYPERCAR H	2:01.512	1.895
13	5	J. ANDLAUER / M. CHRISTENSEN / N. MÜLLER	Porsche Penske Motorsport	HYPERCAR H	2:01.588	1.971
14	99	N. JANI / N. PINO / N. VARRONE	Proton Competition	HYPERCAR H	2:01.837	2.220
15	8	S. BUEMI / B. HARTLEY / R. HIRAKAWA	Toyota Gazoo Racing	HYPERCAR H	2:01.908	2.291
16	7	M. CONWAY / K. KOBAYASHI / N. DE VRIES	Toyota Gazoo Racing	HYPERCAR H	2:01.911	2.294
17	007	H. TINCKNELL / T. GAMBLE	Aston Martin Thor Team	HYPERCAR	2:02.282	2.665
18	009	A. RIBERAS / M. SORENSEN	Aston Martin Thor Team	HYPERCAR	2:02.403	2.786
19	78	A. ROBIN / F. GEHRSITZ / Y. NAKAYAMA	Akkodis ASP Team	LMGT3	2:17.732	18.115
20	10	D. DEBOER / E. BARRICHELLO / V. HASSE CLOT	Racing Spirit of Leman	LMGT3	2:18.008	18.391
21	77	B. SOUSA / B. TUCK / B. BARKER	Proton Competition	LMGT3	2:18.016	18.399
22	88	S. GATTUSO / G. LEVORATO / D. OLSEN	Proton Competition	LMGT3	2:18.229	18.612
23	54	T. FLOHR / F. CASTELLACCI / D. RIGON	Vista AF Corse	LMGT3	2:18.288	18.671
24	27	I. JAMES / Z. ROBICHON / M. DRUDI	Heart of Racing Team	LMGT3	2:18.314	18.697
25	21	F. HERIAU / S. MANN / A. ROVERA	Vista AF Corse	LMGT3	2:18.456	18.839
26	92	R. HARDWICK / R. PERA / R. LIETZ	Manthey 1ST Phorm	LMGT3	2:18.917	19.300

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Maxime Lantz

Photographer

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I’ve had a passion for motorsport since my childhood. Even as a child, I used to often have a camera between my hands. Later, I professionalized in the audiovisual field and then the idea to mix these two passions for racing and photography came up. Now, I mainly cover WEC and endurance racing, but also local hillclimb events.