Ferrari keeps dominating WEC with another pole

Ferrari blocked out the top three positions in qualifying for Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours as the Italian manufacturer continued its domination of the 2025 World Endurance Championship.

Antonio Fuoco claimed his first pole of the year aboard the #50 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar by three tenths of a second in the 12-minute Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

Robert Kubica took second position in the customer entry run by AF Corse on 1m59.964s. That put him two tenths up on Antonio Giovinazzi, who ended on 2m00.201s in the #51 factory car, in which he claimed pole for the opening two WEC races at Qatar in February and Imola in March.

Next best after the Ferraris was the #94 Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH, which finished six tenths off the pole in the hands of Stoffel Vandoorne.

His 2m02.218s was just quicker than the 2m02.246s from Alex Lynn in the best of the Jota team’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs.

Mick Schumacher took sixth in his Alpine A424 LMDh with a 2m00.368s just ahead of the second Peugeot, qualified by Jean-Eric Vergne.

#36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki, Mick Schumacher

Photo by: FIAWEC – DPPI

BMW, which was fastest behind Ferrari in qualifying at both Qatar and Imola, took eighth with the M Hybrid V8 LMDh driven by Robin Frijns.

Charles Milesi and Earl Bamber rounded out the top 10 for Alpine and Cadillac.

Porsche and Toyota, which respectively won the WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ crowns in 2024, each failed to get a car into the Hyperpole session.

The German manufacturer ended up 12th and 13th in the 15-minute first session with the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDhs, both cars nearly 1.5s off the pace in the hands of Kevin Estre and Julien Andlauer.

The Japanese marque was 15th and 16th, ahead only of the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMHs.

Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi were separated by just three thousandths in the two Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMHs, leaving them 1.8s off the best time in the opening qualifying set by Fuoco.

Toyota’s form follows another Balance of Performance hit under which the GR010 has lost 20kW (25bhp) since Imola.

LMGT3: Lexus on top

#78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3: Finn Gehrsitz

Photo by: FIAWEC – DPPI

Lexus claimed a maiden LMGT3 with Finn Gehrsitz aboard the best of the Auto Sport Promotion RC F GT3s.

The German took the top spot in class by more than two tenths despite a late improvement from Eduardo Barrichello in the Spirit of Leman Aston Martin.

Gehrsitz ended up on a 2m17.732s at the end of the 12-minute Hyperpole session, which compared with the 2m18.008s posted by Barrichello in the Prodrive-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3 after the chequered flag had fallen.

Ford took third and fourth positions with the pair of Proton Competition Mustang GT3s.

Ben Tuck took second with a 2m18.016s, again set after the clock had stopped, ahead of Giammarco Levorato in the sister car, which ended up on 2m18.229s.

Simon Mann in the quickest of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s finished seventh after losing a time that would have been good enough for third to a track limits violation.

Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours, round three of the 2025 WEC, starts at 14:00 local time.