The countdown is on for the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Historically an event which never fails to deliver excitement, tension and drama, and often unpredictable weather to shake things up, this will be the first time that the iconic Belgian track has hosted the first round of a WEC season.  It will also be a ‘first’ for many of the teams and drivers, and stars such as Fernando Alonso, Pastor Maldonado, Augusto Farfus and Maxime Martin will all be making their WEC debut.

Entry list here

As has been tradition for the last seven years, it is also the lead-in to the world’s greatest endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 16/17th June. Thanks to the unique particularities of the Super Season, this will be the first of two visits in the 2018-2019 calendar to both Spa and Le Mans.

A firm favourite of every team and driver, the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will welcome many thousands of passionate endurance racing fans who flock to the Ardennes each year from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France and the UK.  

Practice and qualifying sessions are run on the two days prior to the main event, and there is a full programme of entertainment lined up for spectators on and off the track.  This includes support races from Porsche Carrera Cup France & Benelux, a Fan Zone full of family entertainment, pit walks, autograph sessions and, of course, open paddocks.  

The entry list in more detail
The grid of 37 cars includes one additional LMP2 entry to the full-season list, G-Drive Racing, as the teams prepare for Le Mans.  A closer look at each of the categories follows.

Full strength LMP1 category 
The last time there were 10 LMP1 cars on track at Spa-Francorchamps was way back in 2012 and the sights and sounds of the fast, sleek prototypes will be a sight to behold.  Leading the charge will be the only two hybrid-powered entries from Toyota Gazoo Racing, with team and WEC ‘rookie’ Fernando Alonso finally able to experience the WEC in race mode.  The Spanish two-time F1 World Champion has carried out extensive testing in the TS050 HYBRID but was unable to be at the Prologue due to F1 commitments so this will be his first taste of multi-class world championship endurance racing. Also back in the team will be Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi who were also forced to miss the Prologue. 

Rebellion Racing will finally have its two Rebellion R13-Gibsons available, with a driver line-up ‘par excellence’ including no fewer than five former WEC World and class champions and one Asian Le Mans Series Champion! French chassis manufacturer ORECA, which designed and built the car, will also manage the Swiss team. ByKolles Racing (No.4 ENSO CLM P1/01 – Nismo) and CEFC TRSM Racing (Nos.5 & 6 Ginetta G60-LT-P1-Mecachrome) have still to confirm their full driver line ups for the Belgian race. SMP Racing has confirmed that the No.11 BR Engineering BR1-AER will feature Russian hot shots Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov while, in the No.17 sister car, Stéphane Sarrazin will lead Egor Orudzhev and Mateyos Isaakyan, both drivers also from Russia.

DragonSpeed’s No.10 BR Engineering BR1-Gibson will be in the hands of season regulars Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley, supported in Belgium by 2017 World Series Formula V8 Champion Pietro Fittipaldi as Renger Van der Zande is racing in the USA.   The young Brazilian got an exciting taste of the WEC in Bahrain last year when he took part in the official WEC Rookie Test in a Porsche 919 Hybrid.  

Battle of the brands in LMGTE Pro
In LMGTE Pro six of the 10 entries will feature 3-man line ups to prepare for Le Mans.  Only AF Corse and Porsche will race with their full season, already-announced driving squads.  

FIA GT World Champions Ferrari will race the EVO version of their title-winning 488 GTE for the first time in a WEC race, in the hands of Champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.  Porsche enjoyed a dominant success for the 911 RSR at the recent 12 Hours of Sebring in the USA and will attack the world championship with renewed confidence and vigour, while BMW, Ford and Aston Martin will all have much to prove.

American Billy Johnson, a face familiar to the WEC, and Brazilian Indycar and former Indy 500 Champion Tony Kanaan both join Ford Chip Ganassi Racing for the Belgian round; Johnson will be teamed with Pla and Mücke, Kanaan with Priaulx and Tincknell. 

BMW announced some time ago that Philipp Eng (No.81 Tomczyk-Catsburg) and Alexander Sims (No.82 Farfus-da Costa) would be a part of the endurance race line up, and both will be as anxious as their team mates to see how the new BMW fares in this highly competitive category.

Aston Martin Racing’s new Vantage AMR has shown promise on the test track, and the team is putting forward potentially its strongest line up for years. Darren Turner, a stalwart of the team since its inception, will be alongside Sørensen and Thiim in the No.95 while Jonny Adam guides AMR newcomers Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin through their first race with the British team.  Martin, of course, needs no introduction to the local audience as he is the sole Belgian in the race.

LMP2 – the competition hots up  
Eight LMP2 entries will be battling for victory on the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with the addition of the No.26 G-Drive Racing ORECA 07 Gibson of Roman Rusinov and Jean-Eric Vergne (third driver TBA) alongside the full-season entries.  

le signing to the WEC is Venezuelan former F1 driver Pastor Maldonado who joins the DragonSpeed team in the No.31 ORECA 07 Gibson to partner Roberto Gonzalez and Nathanaël Berthon. TDS Racing (No.28 ORECA 07 Gibson), Racing Team Nederland (No.29 Dallara P217 Gibson) and Signatech Alpine Matmut (No.36.Alpine A470 Gibson) all put forward previously announced driving squads, as does Larbre Competition (No.50 Ligier JSP217 Gibson).  

2017 LMP2 title runners up Jackie Chan DC Racing is close to finalising its full driver line up following the announcement of the all-Malaysian trio of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Afiq Ikhwan – all WEC Rookies – for the No.37 ORECA 07 Gibson. Young Frenchman Gabriel Aubry will join team leader Ho-Pin Tung in the Chinese-entered team, with the third driver for the No.38 still to be announced.

Race of nations in GTE Am
An incredible 16 nations are represented by the drivers in the LMGTE Am class of the WEC, with just one seat still to be filled in the No.77 Dempsey-Proton Racing entry alongside Christian Ried and Australian Matt Campbell.  

Two Aston Martins, three Ferraris and four Porsches will be putting on the usual exciting display of nose-to-tail racing and, with 10 rookies in the category, it’s likely to capture everyone’s attention!  Among the nations new to the WEC are Turkey (Salih Yoluc, No.90 TF Sport) and Norway (Egidio Perfetti, No.56 Team Project 1).

Sunshine, rain, mist or breeze…?
No race preparations for Spa would be complete without a careful look at the weather forecast and teams and seasoned fans arrive prepared for anything.  Set deep in the Ardennes forest region of southern Belgium, there are often rain showers but that adds to the unpredictability of the final outcome.  Many WEC races have been held in warm, dry conditions but only time will tell if 2018 will be the same!

The opening round of the 2018-2019 WEC Super Season, the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps takes place from 13h30 on Saturday 5th May, finishing in the dusk at 19h30.  More details on the timetable can be found HERE and the entry list HERE.  Fans will be able to follow the action from Thursday 3rd May in person, via the FIA WEC App or on www.fiawec.com.