Ferrari leads the first half of the 2025 World Endurance Championship season

Ferrari’s perfect record halfway through the season has set them up for an attempt at the manufacturers title

The Italian round of the WEC in Imola saw the No. 51 Ferrari claim victory after a heated battle. Not an unexpected result, after the Ferrari Hypercar trio had conquered the podium in the prologue with the No. 50, 83, and 51. Imola, however, can always manage to surprise you, and if you have ever driven on that track, even only on a simulator, you probably know this way too well. The Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari has a way of drowning dreams and crushing hopes, and the tifosi had their heart rate up until the last lap.

The crew of the No. 51, with Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado, and Alessandro Pier Guidi began the day on pole position and were able to cross the finish line first for the victory. As always with endurance racing, a lot of the strategy came down to tire selection, along with pit stop timing.

Team WRT with the No. 20, along with the Alpine Endurance Team No. 36, completed the Hypercar podium in Italy, with another Ferrari in fourth place, the No. 83 of Robert Kubica.

First to the finish in the LMGT3 category was Team Manthey Racing. The No. 92 Porsche of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick took the victory in front of the local favorite Valentino Rossi’s No. 46 Team WRT BMW.

Rossi, who clinched the LMGT3 Hyperpole, had to serve a drive-through penalty during the race for contact with the No. 21 Ferrari. The drive-through cost Team WRT the lead, and eventually also the victory, as the BMW ended up crossing the finish line in second place. The two Team Akkodis ASP Lexus completed the lead group and took third and fourth places with the No. 78 and No. 87.

Next was the Belgian round – the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. In Spa, the three Ferraris lined up for the Hyperpole. With the No. 50, 83, and 51 at the top of the grid in that order, seeing a Ferrari on the podium almost looked like a done deal to the fans.

Following the Italian trio closely during the Hyperpole session was the N0.94 Peugeot, starting the race in 4th place, ahead of Team Jota and Alpine. Team Peugeot TotalEnergies had good pace early on in practice and qualifying with both prototypes, the No. 93 and 94, which were numbered after the historic 1993 Le Mans victory. Alpine Endurance Team was able to place the No. 36 in 6th place on the grid, and the No. 35 in 9th place.

The Hyperpole in the LMGT3 category went to the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus, followed by the No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage and the two Proton Competition Ford No. 77 and No. 88.

Sixth and 7th place on the Spa grid were the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 27 Aston Martin for the Heart of Racing Seattle-based Team. Valentino Rossi’s No.46 Team WRT BMW was ready to start the race towards the back of the Hyperpole list, in 9th place.

It looked almost like destiny was already written for Ferrari, despite Eau Rouge showing up once again as one of the most loved and most heartbreaking corners in motorsports. During FP2, Giovinazzi crashed the No.51 at Eau Rouge, and the Italian garage had to work on some serious repairs to put the car back in contention for qualifying.

The race, for once without any rain in sight, offered the usual thrill to the largest WEC crowd ever seen at Spa, over 98,000 spectators. Ferrari, BMW, and Alpine battled throughout the 6 hours and all the way to the finish – and in the end, the prancing horse prevailed. The No. 51 Ferrari took the first spot, followed by the No. 50 sister car and the No. 36 Alpine. Schumacher, Gounon, and Makowiecki secured Team Alpine’s second podium of the season and earned significant points in the championship.

The results at Imola and Spa were a good start for Alpine and put the No. 36 driver’s crew in fifth place in the Drivers’ standings as they were ready to get on the way to Le Mans, the home course for Alpine Endurance Team.

In the LMGT3 category, the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari took the finish line first, followed by the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford, the sister Ferrari No. 54 Vista AF Corse, and the other Proton Competition Ford No. 77. The two Aston Martin of The Heart of Racing Team and Racing Spirit of Leman took 5th and 6th place, with the No.27 putting The heart of Racing Team in 4th place in the LMGT3 standings for Teams and Drivers.

As the teams were getting ready for Le Mans, additional entries joined the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories for the big race, as well as a group of 17 LMP2 prototypes – and the 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans set out to be unpredictable, as every race at the Circuit de La Sarthe.

Drama ensued early on in the week. After the practice sessions, the Porsche No. 6 was disqualified from qualifying due to noncompliance with the minimum car weight regulations. This setback for Team Penske automatically placed the car at the back of the Hypercar starting grid.

Porsche’s misfortune promoted the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie No. 009 to the Hyperpole session, with the driver crew of Marco Sørensen, Alex Riberas, and Roman De Angelis. Another Aston Martin – the Vantage – posted a fantastic qualifying session, conquering Hyperpole in the LMGT3 category with the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Team.

The starting grid for Hypercar had the two Cadillac Hertz Team Jota No. 12 and No. 38 at the top of the grid, while in LMGT3, the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 46 Team WRT BMW started second and third behind the No. 27 Aston Martin.

Right before the race, the last practice session saw the Ferrari No. 83 of Robert Kubica as the fastest car on track, setting the expectations for the race. The No. 83 was starting in the middle of the Hypercar pack, but Le Mans is Le Mans, and everything can happen in those 24 hours around the Circuit de La Sarthe.

About a third into the race, as the evening morphed into the night, the Ferrari and Porsche Hypercars climbed to the top of the race and began their battle. Despite a few instances under FCY, the trio of Ferrari maintained positions at the top, with a few exchanges in the lead between the No. 51 and the No. 83 Hypercars.

As dawn broke on the Circuit de La Sarthe, the sunlight found Ferrari and Porsche still battling up front for the most fantastic race in the world. The No. 51 Ferrari, led by Calado at the wheel, was followed by Hanson in the No. 83 and Vanthoor in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport. Fourth in the morning hours was Antonio Fuoco in the Ferrari No. 50, winner of the 2024 edition of the LM24.

In LMGT3, the battle was still Porsche vs Ferrari, as halfway through the race, Vista AF Corse No. 21 was overtaken by the Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche. Team TF Sport was holding on for third place with the No. 81 Corvette, and the pole starter Aston Martin No. 27 in fourth. The LMP2 category featured a battle between VDS Panis Racing and Inter Europol Competition.

Towards the end of the race, the customer team, which included Kubica, Hanson, and Ye, took the lead in the No. 83 Ferrari and crossed the finish line ahead of the No. 6 Porsche Penske and the No. 51 Ferrari—a significant victory for a private team at the greatest endurance race in the world.

In LMGT3, the victory went to the No. 92 Manthey 1st Phorm, ahead of the No. 21 Vista AF Corse and the No. 81 TF Sport. In LMP2, the Inter Europol Competition squad won ahead of VDS Panis Racing Oreca-Gibson. The No. 83 victory gives Ferrari a Hypercar hat-trick at Le Mans, after winning the race in 2023 and 2024.

The next round of the WEC is taking the teams all the way to Brazil in July, for the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos. Ahead of the Brazil and USA races, Ferrari leads the manufacturers’ standings ahead of Toyota and Porsche.

After Brazil, the WEC will visit the Circuit of the Americas in Austin for the Lone Star Le Mans 6 hours race.

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