FIA WEC season-opener to be broadcast for free on YouTube in Latin America

Taking place at Lusail International Circuit, the final free practice session (12:00 Qatari time) and qualifying (17:00 Qatari time) on Thursday, 27 February, followed by the full ten-hour race – beginning at 14:00 local time on Friday, 28 February – will be aired in 18 Latin American markets excluding Brazil, where it will be shown live and free-to-air on BAND channels, Esporte and Grande Premio.

The YouTube coverage will be accessible in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The season curtain-raiser features five Latin American drivers on the entry list. In Hypercar, Nicolas Pino from Chile and Argentina’s Nicolas Varrone join former FIA WEC World Champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Neel Jani in Proton Competition’s Porsche 963.

In LMGT3, Argentine ace José María López – twice an FIA WEC title-winner and Le Mans conqueror – remains on-board Akkodis ASP Team’s #87 Lexus, Brazil’s Augusto Farfus continues in The Bend Team WRT’s BMW and countryman Eduardo Barrichello, son of two-time Formula 1 World Championship runner-up and 11-time grand prix-winner Rubens Barrichello, makes his series debut in Racing Spirit of Léman’s Aston Martin.

FIA WEC will race in the region with the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo at Interlagos on 11-13 July, which returned to the calendar last season for the first time in a decade, attracting more than 73,000 spectators.

Global Coverage of the Qatar 1812km

In addition to the free YouTube coverage in Latin America, the championship’s eagerly-anticipated 2025 season-opener will be broadcast all around the world, with details as follows...

EUROPE
Eurosport platforms will show the action throughout Europe – including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – with the Qatar 1812km being broadcast live in two parts on Eurosport 2 from 11:30 – 15:30 CET and 17:30 – 22:30 CET. FP3, qualifying and the full race will be available on Eurosport Player, Discovery+ and Max, depending on territory. Viewers living in France can watch FP3, qualifying and the full race (12:00 – 22:00 CET) free via digital channel L’Equipe.fr, and in Germany the whole race will be available on SPORT1 (12:00 – 22:00 CET). In the UK, TNT Sports will show the entire race live from 10:30 – 21:30 GMT on its TNT Sports 2 channel, while Italy’s Rai Sport will bring fans highlights of the event from 21:40 – 22:40 on Tuesday, 4 March.

NORTH AMERICA
Digital channel MAX will broadcast FP3, qualifying and the full race live and on-demand, while Canadian residents can catch highlights on CityTV+.

SOUTH AMERICA
As referenced above, BAND will broadcast the action live and free-to-air in Brazil. The agreement will see the Qatar 1812km shown on BAND pay-TV channel Band Sports and FTA digital platform Bandplay (all 09:00 – 19:00 local time) and Esporte as well as on Grande Premio (FP3, qualifying and full race, 07:30 – 18:30). Elsewhere in Latin America, FP3, qualifying and the full race will be free to watch on the FIA WEC YouTube channel.

ASIA + AUSTRALASIA
A pan-Asian TV deal for the Asia-Pacific region sees the Qatar 1812km broadcast live on Eurosport. Fans in Japan can tune into the full qualifying session and race (19:30 – 06:30 local time) on J Sports 3, with Eurosport India airing a portion of the race from 18:00 – 21:00 GMT and online channel StanSport televising FP3, qualifying and the race in full (21:30 – 08:30 local time) in Australia, as well as re-runs on-demand.

MIDDLE EAST
Qatari network beIN Sports will show the first two hours of the race from 14:00 – 16:00 local time and the final two hours from 22:00 – 00:00 on its beIN Sports 6 channel.

AFRICA
Long-term FIA WEC broadcast partner SuperSport will televise the full race to residents living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

YOUTUBE AND OFFICIAL FIA WEC APP
Action from FP3 tomorrow (Thursday, 27 February) will be live to watch on the FIA WEC YouTube channel. FIAWEC.TV will broadcast FP3, qualifying and the entire race live on its online platform, available worldwide. Individual race packages can be purchased for €8,99. On the app will be qualifying, race replays and full English-language commentary from experts Anthony Davidson, Martin Haven, Graham Goodwin as well as pit-lane reporter, Bruce Jouanny.  For more information about the app, click HERE.

For a full breakdown of the broadcast coverage for the Qatar 1812km, click HERE.