Motorsport Week picked five main storylines from an exhilarating Qatar 1812 km, the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener.

The race on 28 February marked the second consecutive running of the Qatari race since opening the season last year.

Over the course of 10 hours, the captivating race narrative incorporated action, close wheel-to-wheel and nose-to-tail racing and dramatic moments.

A grid of 36 sports cars took on the event hosted at the Lusail International Circuit with exactly half in the glorious Hypercar category and the other half comprised of LMGT3 competitors.

In comparison to the other Middle Eastern circuit on the calendar, Bahrain, Qatar does not prose the same low grip conditions to accentuate the same tyre degredation management.

Whilst teams were still challenged with making use of their limited sets, such as changing left-side tyres only, the race managed a great racing spectacle demonstrating the hierarchy of Hypercar manufacturers’ performances as well as teasing the thrills and spills of LMGT3 in the upcoming seven rounds.

Read our Hypercar and LMGT3 race reports:

• Ferrari sweep podium with dominant 1-2-3 at Qatar
• Daniel Juncadella fends off McLaren towards Corvette LMGT3 victory in Qatar

Unlucky fire for Proton

It was an unfortunate coincidence that one of Proton Competition’s two Ford Mustang LMGT3 entries retired at the end of last season in Bahrain, then due to a fire in the Prologue and again during the Qatar 1812 km.

The Ford Mustang package began the 2025 season on a high in the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona. It secured victory in the GTD Pro category, the first IMSA class win for the Mustang in 40 years.

At the 8 Hours of Bahrain last year, both the #77 and #88 Fords retired as the Prologue and Qatar 1812 km fires concerned solely the #77.

During the Prologue’s first of four sessions, the #77 only completed 11 laps before catching fire with Ben Tuck on-board – though safe from any injury – due to a faulty exhaust header.

A new car was built with a new chassis in preparation for the first free practice session. The driver line-up were at a significant disadvantage with such little track-time.

The #77 qualified antepenultimate in the LMGT3 order whilst the #88 reached Hyperpole.

Tuck briefly raced for the lead against Sebastien Baud (#59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo) and Finn Gehrsitz (#78 Lexus RC F LMGT3) four hours in.

After the halfway mark, smoke filled the #77’s cockpit as Bernardo Sousa headed down the main straight, prompting him to stop at Turn 1 as a fire ensued after he got out.

This fire overshadowed their brief form of competitive performance with the #88 crew managing a P10 finish at the end.

Toyota’s worthy comeback

The reigning Hypercar Manufacturers’ champions conducted a superb comeback performance in Qatar.

Toyota are subtly regarded as the benchmark in the WEC due to their longevity of experience. Their GR010 Hybrid has competed in each Hypercar season since the debut 2021 season.

Most importantly, their high status is not just due to their level of experience as five consecutive Le Mans victories and seven WEC Manufacturers’ titles are just a mere sign of their refined performances from both the mechanics during pit stops and the drivers.

The drama started in Hyperpole, when Brendon Hartley spun around on a fast lap consequently resulting in his #8 Toyota starting last in the 18-strong Hypercar category.

Sebastien Buemi masterfully climbed up the field during the opening hour, having fought hard during the process.

In fact, his #8 Toyota ran P6 just ahead of the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, who started in that position on the grid.

Toyota kept out of harms way as other cars clashed around them in addition to a strong effort as a team to the point until they hunted down Ferrari’s trio of 499Ps for the outright lead.

Their comeback was ‘textbook Toyota’ in that they utilised the various race disruptions to optimise their tyre set and use their ample experience on the strategy-front, in order to keep in contention towards the upper end of the grid,

Fifth and sixth finishes for the #8 followed by the #7 was the result of a great team performance although they only reside third in the Hypercar Manufacturers’ standings until next time at Imola where they won last year.

Disaster for JOTA’s Cadillacs

Both Cadillac’s colliding easily distinguished the most dramatic moment of the Qatar 1812 km.

They had seemingly controlled the race ahead of the green flag, following the first (virtual) safety car period.

Both of the JOTAs ran with one another in the debut race for the Cadillac partnership and demonstrated competitive form so as to bring intrigue whether they could hold off the three Ferraris behind.

Shockingly, both made contact in an unusual and avoidable situation.

Alex Lynn misjudged Jenson Button’s restart who braked after seemingly putting the power down in his #38 Cadillac V-Series.R, resulting in the #12 Cadillac enduring significant front-end damage and rear-left for the #38.

In a moment’s notice, JOTA threw away a potential victory charge in their first race with Cadillac.

Extensive repairs were carried out especially for the #38 as they finished eighth and 16th by the end.

LMGT3 runs down to the wire

Under half-a-second. Or 0.493 to be specific. That was the margin which separated the LMGT3 class-winning #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo at the checkered flag.

LMGT3 began with a tame fight for the lead, headed by Akkodis ASP’s #78 Lexus extending his gap as far as over a minute ahead of second place.

The first pit stop sequence saw the McLarens retake their top spots but the end of the race could not have been more tense, especially after a drive-through penalty ended the pole-sitting #95 McLaren’s pursuit for victory.

Daniel Juncadella ran in the lead with 30 minutes remaining of the 10-hour race and Gregoire Saucy was behind him, gradually closing on the Corvette’s tail and narrowing the gap.

Juncadella defended as strongly as he could whilst Saucy was in a state of attack, though it must be credited the two drivers performed excellently in not ruining their encounter with any high risk moves which could have ended their fight and resulted in an accident.

The gap went down as close as two-tenths as Juncadella emerged victorious after what certainly felt like much more than 30 minutes.

READ MORE: LMGT3 winner Daniel Juncadella admits ‘a lot of pressure’ in Qatar

A learning curve for the debutants

At the Qatar 1812 km, there were two debuting efforts – Iron Lynx with Mercedes-AMG’s WEC debut and Aston Martin’s Hypercar debut with their new Valkyrie.

Firstly with the Heart of Racing-Valkyrie programme, this marked the first race for them after an extensive development and pre-homologation process.

We can refer to the start of other Hypercar programmes on the grid, and how their debuts were largely uncompetitive on long term pace in addition to reliability issues.

Race conditions provided the most useful data in regards to pace relative to their rivals and the search for outlying weaknesses or reliability issues from what is simply the beginning of the project. The #007 officially retired due to a transmission issue as the #009 ended 17th.

Whilst the debut results may not look promising, what crucially matters is the rate of progress for the programme especially ahead of the Valkyrie’s 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in June.

As for the Mercedes-AMG, one has to question if the newly implemented torque sensors had an impact such as their eight other manufacturers during last year’s season.

It was a puzzling and underwhelming debut for Mercedes with the renowned LMGT3 package which found success like at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring (2016 victory), multiple wins at the 12 Hours of Bathurst and the 24 Hours of Spa win in 2022 by the Akkodis ASP team.

Alike with the Valkyrie project, though not necessarily with a ‘brand-new’ car, Iron Lynx need to dig deep to reflect on where they can find pace and reliability with a triple threat for Le Mans.

READ MORE: Le Mans 24 Hours provisional entry list features 62 entries

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Peugeot cited a smooth reliability run for their 9X8 Hypercars at the Qatar 1812 km, the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener.

They more or less contended for the top-10 in the highly competitive 18-strong Hypercar category throughout the whole 10-hour race.

This resulted in P9 (#93 Peugeot) and P12 (#94 Peugeot) finishes as the latter Hypercar incurred a penalty which dropped them outside the points-threshold before the checkered flag.

They evidently contended for the race victory last year before running out of fuel, though this was with the previous ‘wingless’ version of the 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar.

Jean-Marc Finot, Senior VP of Stellantis Motorsport, said: “The two cars finished, and they were very reliable in this 10-hour race, which is a positive point because we had to rebuild #94 before qualifying.

“We extracted the maximum from the package we had during the race and took advantage of all opportunities and safety cars to reposition ourselves in the standings.

“I am very proud of the work of the entire team this week.

“Now, we need to find a bit more pace to more regularly compete for the top spots.”

“It was a pretty complicated race, and very tight in the middle of the pack,” added Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of Peugeot Sport.

“Losail is a circuit that doesn’t degrade tyres much, so no issues with the tyre quota here.

“However, the track changes a lot, and we had to find the right tire combinations depending on the conditions, while trying to outmanoeuvre the competitors within our reach and make the best use of the safety cars to keep both our cars in the lead lap as long as possible.”

Tyre management still key amidst interruptions at Lusail

Ten interruptions spread across the virtual safety car, safety car and full-course-yellow periods during the race on 28 February.

Many of their Hypercar rivals raced together as manufacturers, like Peugeot, with the exception of Cadillac after their two JOTAs dramatically collided with one another.

Apart from the brand new Aston Martin Valkyrie, all other Hypercars demonstrated fair reliability during the race.

Jean-Eric Vergne qualified the #93 Peugeot in 10th place as Loic Duval was 12th for the #94 and both Peugeots comfortably ran within the top-10 during the race.

Loic Duval’s hard battle with Michael Christensen’s #5 Porsche Penske 963 resulted in a drive-through penalty within the penultimate hour of the race.

Mikkel Jensen, one of the co-drivers in the #93 Peugeot, explained the track evolution’s effect on tyre management:

“I did a first double stint of more than two hours.

“Between day and night, temperatures dropped, and the track evolved a lot.

“It was hard to know whether to use hard or medium tyres at that point.

“We chose to run hard on the left and medium on the right.

“We weren’t the fastest on track, but we stuck with it to stay in the top-10 and on the lead lap.”

READ MORE: Ferrari sweep podium with dominant 1-2-3 at Qatar

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Iron Lynx used the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener, the Qatar 1812 km, as a test for their new Mercedes-AMG machinery.

The team suffered a challenging debut with their two new Mercedes-AMG LMGT3s, having used the 10-hour race as a test session.

Mercedes had yet to debut into the FIA WEC and it marked the first time with their new torque sensors, only otherwise introduced to their customer teams firsthand at the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona.

At the start of the third racing hour, Christian Reid lost the rear end of his #61 Mercedes-AMG due to a technical issue and beached the rear wheels in a gravel trap.

The #61 Mercedes-AMG retired due as the yellow #60 Mercedes encountered problems as well, undergoing a three-hour repair job.

“We knew it was going to be a hard challenge, but we were hoping for something better,” said Iron Lynx team principal and CEO Andrea Piccini.

“Still, we used the second part of the race as a test, and we made some positive steps.

“We must consider that not only was it our first time with Mercedes-AMG in FIA WEC, but it was also the first time we had the chance to collaborate on-site, spending 10 days together to improve the operation and technical aspects.

“We will now be taking all the learnings and improvements into the next round of the year.”

Iron Lynx and their first race with Mercedes

One of the #61’s co-drivers Maxime Martin added: “First race of the season, and first FIA WEC race for Mercedes-AMG here in Qatar.

“It was big learning curve, and not the easiest weekend, but we had a lot of testing that allowed us to try different things.

“Unfortunately, we had to retire the #61 car for a technical issue.

“Still, we have a lot of improvements coming and I cannot wait to be back in the car to be in a better shape at Imola.”

The 6 Hours of Imola on 20 April will act as a home race for Iron Lynx, who are based locally to the circuit in Cesena.

With the #61’s retirement and #60 non-classification due to the fact they did not completed the required 70% minimum distance to be so, Iron Lynx undoubtedly seek a more competitive outcome.

READ MORE: WEC Prologue ‘learning curve’ for Iron Lynx’s new Mercedes-AMGs

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LMGT3 class winner Daniel Juncadella admitted the great pressure on defending the win at the FIA World Endurance Championship‘s Qatar 1812 km.

“For the whole stint, for sure that was a lot of pressure in the last 30 minutes,” said the #33 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R driver.

“At beginning I didn’t think I could hold [the #59 – Gregoire Saucy] off.

“I just focused on hitting my marks. I could see where he was stronger in places.

“There were a couple of places where he could have gone for it and I think he was unsure.

“So it was good to keep him behind.

“At some point I was thinking we were going to finish second but I was focused on myself, my driving and not making mistakes. And here we are.”

The 2025 season-opener hosted a tense final hour in the LMGT3 category as TF Sport and United Autosports were spurred on by the glory of a maiden victory in the category.

As the other #81 TF Sport Corvette, which looked competitive earlier on, retired due to a broken alternator shaft pulley, the #33 entrant was the team’s sole chance to win after 10 hours.

The #33 fought their way up to contention, having qualified 13th in the LMGT3 class, whilst United Autosports’ #95 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO lost their winning chances.

This was due to a drive-through penalty from an unsafe pit stop release and so the #59 McLaren became hope for their desire for LMGT3 victory.

‘We had to let others take themselves out of contention’ says Keating

“I couldn’t have imagined this,” said Ben Keating, one of the other #33 co-drivers to Juncadella and a former champion in Corvette machinery.

“Even if you look at the way the race unfolded, we didn’t have the speed to win it.

“We had to let others take themselves out of contention, and we’ll take it any way we can get it! We ran a clean race and a hard race…

“The last 30 minutes of Dani staying in front of the McLaren was just epic.

“To start 13th and end up in first place after 10 hours of hard racing is not easy.”

Meanwhile the other #33 Corvette co-driver, Jonny Edgar, took on his maiden WEC victory alike Juncadella as Keating claimed his eighth.

Corvette had one existing win thus far in 2025 at the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona on 25-26 January in the GTD category.

The next stop on the calendar for the Corvette brand will be at the 73rd running of the 12 Hours of Sebring on 15 March.

READ MORE: Daniel Juncadella fends off McLaren towards Corvette LMGT3 victory in Qatar

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Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina have won the Qatar 1812km, the opening race of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season, completing a Ferrari 1-2-3 for the first time ever in modern WEC history.

The Italian cars dominated the race and led the majority of it with one of the three cars leading for most of the race.

Fuoco crossed the line first in the #50 Ferrari 499P, followed by the yellow ‘satellite’ car, the #83 machine driven by Robert Kubica in the final stint. The Pole was just 2.348 away from Fuoco at the line, but fading tyres meant he couldn’t catch the Ferrari factory driver.

Kubica did, though, fend off another Ferrari factory driver Alessandro Pier Guidi, in the sister #51 car, with Pier Guidi just three tenths behind Kubica’s yellow Ferrari as they crossed the line. Pier Guidi had chased down Kubica in the final hour, with new tyres on the factory car, but couldn’t find a way past, with the 40-year-old defending second brilliantly.

Calado starts strong for Ferrari

The #51 car started from pole with Pier Guidi’s teammate James Calado behind the wheel. Calado retained the lead at the start and fended off a challenge at turn 1 from Nielsen in the sister car, who had jumped Kevin Magnussen in the #15 BMW, with the former F1 driver slipping back from second to third.

Calado, then, led much of the first two and a half hours of the race, only relinquishing it through pit stops. 

Further back, Ferdinand Habsburg went from ninth to fourth on the opening lap in the #35 Alpine A424, while Cadillac’s Will Stevens went the other way. Habsburg unintentionally tagged him on the exit of turn 1 and the #12 Cadillac, with Stevens behind the wheel, dropped from fourth to 12th as a result.

In fifth after the opening laps was Stevens’ teammate, Earl Bamber, in the sister #38 Cadillac.

Calado led for the first hour until he pitted after 34 laps. Nielsen pitted slightly earlier, six seconds adrift of his Ferrari teammate. Behind was Habsburg in the Alpine.

A full course yellow had been called 10 laps before Calado pitted to recover debris, and as the track returned to green, Kevin Magnussen’s speed limiter in the BMW had failed to disengage, causing him to drop from third to ninth, promoting Habsburg into third.

Bamber also came unstuck in the #38 Cadillac, tagging the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of James Cottingham at turn 1 as the Kiwi lapped the McLaren, spinning and losing fourth, dropping to 17th.

Calado stayed in the lead Ferrari for a full two and a bit hours, leading the vast majority of those laps. He finally climbed out, pitting just before a virtual safety car was called, at the start of the third hour, to recover Christian Reid’s stricken #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT, who had spun at turn 9 and was beached in the gravel.

Pitting before the virtual safety car meant their rivals got a strategy jump on them — namely the two JOTA-run factory Cadillacs. Stevens and Bamber pitted when the pit lane was open under VSC, and the Cadillacs emerged in the lead, with Lynn replacing Stevens in the #12 and Bamber’s replacement in the #38, Jenson Button, second. 

Antonio Giovinazzi was now in the former leader, the #51 Ferrari, who was now third, with Antonio Fuoco having replaced Nielsen in the #50 machine in fourth.

Fifth was now Yifei Ye in the yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari, with #20 BMW’s Robin Frijns sixth and Charles Milesi, who’d taken over from Habsburg, seventh.

Meanwhile, the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid was eighth. The car, which had started 17th with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, was now in sixth, and had Brendon Hartley at the wheel.

Cadillac disaster

However, as the safety car lights went off to signal an impending restart, disaster for Cadillac and JOTA. Lynn had been staying glued to Button’s gearbox. Button accelerated then braked to warm his tyres before releasing the field, but Lynn misinterpreted this as the restart proper. When Button braked, Lynn went into the back of his teammate.

Both cars immediately pitted, relinquishing the lead back to who else: the #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, with Fuoco and Ye behind him, creating a Ferrari 1-2-3.

The Cadillacs, the main challengers to the Ferraris based on pace, were now out the way — Lynn would return to the track on the lead lap but out of the top 10, and would later get a drive through penalty for his trouble, while Button went a lap down and would later drop more laps with associated problems from the crash.

When the safety car came back in, Giovinazzi continued where Calado had left off, maintaining the lead over the sister car. He extended a gap, gradually, over the next stint, but towards the end, Fuoco spun overtaking GT3 traffic and promoted Ye to second and BMW’s Frijns to third, with the Italian dropping to fifth. In fourth, ominously, was the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley.

It all came a bit unstuck for Giovinazzi though, at this point. He received a drive through penalty for VSC procedure infringements, dropping into the lower reaches of the top 10, putting Ye in the #83 car into the lead, with Fuoco having recovered to second.

Ye promptly extended a gap to Fuoco, up to 15 seconds at one point, with the two Toyotas of Kobayashi and Hartley now third and fourth.

Ye climbed out at his next stop, and was replaced by Phil Hanson in the yellow Ferrari, the Briton’s first ever race in a Ferrari, with Fuoco’s seat being taken by Miguel Molina in the factory car.

Molina soon began closing down the gap Ye had created, but another safety car was called on the halfway mark, with debris on track on the racing line.

This did the hard work for Molina, putting him mere tenths behind Hanson. However, it wasn’t long before the fourth safety car of the race was called, as the #77 Proton Ford Mustang had caught fire on the pit straight, and pulled over at the right side of turn 1.

When the race went green again, it didn’t take too long for Molina to take the lead off Hanson. He held off Nyck de Vries, now in the #7 Toyota, for second, though, with the Dutchman breathing down his neck and the other Toyota, the #8, now Ryo Hirawaka behind the wheel, not far behind either.

For the most part, the race order at the sharp end stayed like this for the next hour and a half. Molina began building a lead to Hanson, with the Spaniard then handing the #50 car over to Nicklas Nielsen, who continued that work and built a gap of eight seconds. 

Hanson then handed over to Kubica, who gradually got the lead down but not close enough to Molina to fight for the lead.

Toyota move up the order

Behind the two Ferraris, the two Toyotas were duking it out with the BMWs, who had emerged as the chief challengers to the Japanese-German cars, even if neither could challenge the Italian manufacturer in the lead.

Sheldon van der Linde, in the Shell-sponsored #20 car, advanced into third, ahead of Mike Conway, who had replaced Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota. 

Behind them, in fifth, was Calado, back in the #51, who was advancing through the field to recover the ground lost after Giovinazzi’s penalties. The Italian had taken two drive-throughs, the latter for pitlane speeding, setting the #51 back considerably from its earlier position.

Kubica, though, was on a mission. At the pitstops he jumped Fuoco, growing a lead of six seconds while Fuoco warmed up his new tyres.

The Italian soon brought this gap down, though, to well under a second, but try as he might, he could not find a way past Kubica.

No matter, though. Kubica had less fuel than the factory car of Fuoco, and would have to stop first. When he did, Fuoco put the hammer down, and emerged six seconds ahead of Kubica when the stops evened out.

There was now an hour to go: crunch time. 

Fuoco, having not got new boots at the stops, had tyre problems, with his left front particularly susceptible to wear. Kubica had treated his tyres kinder, and while he had also not got new rubber, he was able to close that gap down to three seconds.

Behind Kubica, Calado had handed the #51 over to Pier Guidi. The Italian chased down Kubica and got within a few tenths, but like Fuoco earlier, could not find his way past a defensively brilliant Kubica.

And that was the way it stayed, with the three crossing the line in that order to sweep the podium, the yellow “satellite” car sandwiched by the factory-run machines.

Fourth was the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor, who had managed to fend off the two Toyotas. In actuality, D. Vanthoor finished considerably ahead, with Buemi eight seconds adrift and Kobayashi less than a second behind his teammate.

Seventh was the sister #20 BMW of Robin Frijns, with Alex Lynn recovering the #12 Cadillac to eighth in the end. Ninth was the first of the Peugeots, the #93 9X8 of Mikkel Jensen, and ninth was the #5 Porsche of Michael Christensen, with Porsche unable to repeat their success here last year.

FULL RACE RESULT

READ MORE: Daniel Juncadella fends off McLaren towards Corvette LMGT3 victory in Qatar

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Daniel Juncadella fended his way towards maiden LMGT3 victory at the Qatar 1812 km, the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener.

TF Sport’s #33 co-driver Juncadella held off pressure from Gregoire Saucy’s #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO towards victory after 287 laps completed.

For the first time in the 2025 season, the grid of 18 LMGT3 competitors fought around the Lusail International Circuit for a 10-hour endurance event.

Conditions were mildly warm if not noticeably humid, impacting the drivers from a physical aspect to contend with.

United Autosports were clear stars during qualifying and at the race start, they held 1-2 formation with #95 McLaren driver Darren Leung ahead of James Cottingham’s #59 McLaren.

Arnold Robin initially maintained third place in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3, ahead of both AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3s, but exhibited a move on Cottingham on Lap 2.

In fact, Robin was soon able to claim the LMGT3 class lead from Leung. In the other #87 Lexus, their race ended early when Petru Umbarasecu attempted a move on the inside of the #21 Ferrari, of Francois Heriau, but misjudged his attack and spun the Ferrari as a result.

He pitted soon after and the #87 continued back out and served an awarded drive-through (DT) penalty.

Whilst Robin went on to extend a prominent lead, the attention was on the fight for fourth place.

On Lap 13, Thomas Flohr (#54 Ferrari) defended Tom van Rompuy’s #81 TF Sport before Ahmed Al Harthy tried a move on the outside at Turn 7.

Van Rompuy soon became the second retirement due to a broken alternator shaft pulley.

Lexus falls back behind both McLarens

Robin’s prominent lead was diminished during the first round of pit stops, where the #78 Lexus driver emerged in third place behind the two McLarens.

Nevertheless, Robin continued his momentum as to challenge 2023 British GT champion Leung’s #95 in second place whilst his 2023 British GT vice-champion Cottingham led the charge at the front.

The top-four, to be exact, ensued in a tense battle as just two seconds covered the group.

Al Harthy showcased eager form again when he began chasing down Robin for third place, although managed to get into second during a pit stop sequence as Robin continued longer than the others before pitting.

Finn Gehrsitz took over from Arnold as the other Bronze-graded drivers continued going.

During the third hour, Christian Reid lost the rear end of his #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 and got the rear wheels beached into a gravel trap at Turn 9.

This instigated the first virtual safety car of the race and brought the group of LMGT3s together again.

After the second SC period, declared when the two Cadillacs collided, Al Harthy continued to pressure the #78 Lexus even with Gehrsitz at the wheel.

The other #87 Lexus, meanwhile, became the second retirement of the race primarily induced from the damaging contact it had earlier.

During the fourth racing hour, Ben Tuck of the #77 Proton Ford Mustang LMGT3 fought amidst the leading back.

Sebastien Baud of the #59 McLaren duelled with Gehrisitz’s #78 Lexus, leaving Tuck to make a move for the lead on both of them.

Tuck then defended off the #78 Lexus, unfortunately losing the lead to Gehrisitz as Baud then overtook Tuck into second place.

United Autosports fends lead as Proton suffers heartbreak

The race surpassed the halfway mark with the United Autosports McLarens not in dominant form as they were during the opening stages of the race as the #78 Lexus kept them at bay in the lead.

With his hard work maintaining the top spot, Gehrsitz pitted from the lead to allow Robin.

Valentino Rossi undertook a fierce duel for fourth place in the #46 BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO with Francois Heriau’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3.

Rossi put a move on the inside at final corner but Heriau stuck with him on main straight, unable to return the favour.

Robin, a Bronze-graded driver, understandably fell to P5 after Sebastien Baud overtook him in the #59 McLaren.

With five hours remaining and the daylight well and truly gone, the humidity increased to 50%.

United Autosports regular Marino Sato fronted the LMGT3 class for the #95 McLaren on the restart and held off Heart of Racing’s Mattia Drudi and their #27 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 EVO.

A fourth safety car was deployed due to the #77 Ford which caught fire at the wheel of Bernado Sousa.

Smoke filled the cockpit as he drove down the main straight, prompting him to park the car at Turn 1– the team having previously suffered a fire during the Prologue with a new chassis to take on the season-opener as a result.

Sato and Gelael hold ground for the #95 McLaren

Marino Sato kept his form clean but strong in his defensive work which was relieved after Drudi faced a drive-through penalty for a previous unsafe pit stop release.

Juncadella piloted the #33 Corvette in third place but looked positive on virtual energy with more than those around him.

Ahead of the Spaniard, a fight for second ensued when Alessio Rovera (#21 Ferrari) chased Kelvin van der Linde’s #46 WRT BMW, before the #46 pitted and Rossi returned to the wheel.

Sean Gelael held a promising lead with smooth pace, having earned the Goodyear Wingfoot Award for his efforts during his driving time.

United Autosports’ controlled lead eventually came to a close at the beginning of the ninth racing hour; Gelael served a DT for an unsafe pit stop release in front of the #10 Racing Spirit of LeMan Aston Martin.

The #95 McLaren lost their winning chances with 1-hour and 26-minutes remaining, yet the fight for the lead continued with the #31 WRT BMW of Augusto Farfus ahead of Zach Robichon’s #27 Aston Martin, Jonny Edgar’s #33 TF Sport Corvette and Saucy in fifth place for the #59 McLaren entrant.

Quickly after Juncadella took over from Edgar, Saucy began his surging pressure on the Corvette in what would end up perpetuating right to the checkered flag.

Juncadella resists Saucy’s pressure for first win pursuit

Both TF Sport and United Autosports had yet to claim victory in the fairly new LMGT3 era of the WEC.

It became a closely matched, intense fight between the #33 Corvette and the #59 McLaren – especially with the McLaren crucially in position to return a win after United claimed pole – even if it was with the #95 McLaren.

Timur Boguslavskiy of the #31 BMW held the lead by 20-seconds over the fighting duo behind, but was significantly lower on virtual energy in comparison to the #33 and #59, therefore was destined to pit.

Back to the lead fight, #33 Juncadella in front had 10% more virtual energy than #59 Saucy and so evidently fended off the McLaren.

The pair duelled just 0.2 seconds between them as Saucy numerously stuck on Juncadella’s tail, occasionally looking for a window of opportunity.

There was pressure to make a move whilst not throwing away 10-hours of hard work by the #59 crew, and so Saucy tried a move but could not make it stick.

TF Sport wins tense fight for maiden LMGT3 win

After 287 laps, Juncadella won the LMGT3 class for TF Sport and Covette with his co-drivers Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating.

Saucy claimed second place under half a second behind the #33 at the finishing line – with his #59 McLaren co-drivers Sebastien Baud and James Cottingham, followed by the #31 WRT BMW trio of Timur Boguslavskiy, Augusto Farfus and Yasser Shahin in third.

Ben Barnicoat took fourth position for the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus crew along with Finn Gehrsitz and Arnold Robin.

Alessio Rovera finished fifth for the #21 AF Corse Ferrari crew including Simon Mann and Francois Heriau.

Heart of Racing took sixth with their #27 Aston Martin and co-drivers Mattia Drudi, Zach Robichon and team principal Ian James.

Marino Sato secured seventh place in the end for the #95 McLaren team along with team-mates Sean Gelael and Darren Leung.

The other AF Corse, the #54 Ferrari, finished eighth with Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr.

Racing Spirit of Leman came home in ninth with Valentin Hasse Clot, Eduardo Barrichello and Derek Deboer as Proton Competition’s #88 Ford trio of Dennis Olsen, Giammarco Levorato and Stefano Gattuso rounded out the top-10 finishers.

See the full classification of results here.

READ MORE: Ferrari sweep podium with dominant 1-2-3 at Qatar

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Nicklas Nielsen led the Qatar 1812 km for Ferrari AF Corse after seven hours of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener.

As the race entered the sixth racing hour (out of 10), the second virtual safety car (and third safety car) was called after Nico Varrone oversteered his #99 Proton Porsche 963 Hypercar over the adjacent gravel trap thus sending some of his bodywork as track-side debris.

The race, at 49% humidity, resumed green flag running with 4-hours and 40-minutes remaining.

Phil Hanson held the lead in the yellow privateer-funded AF Corse Ferrari 499P ahead of the #50 factory-entered Ferrari piloted by Miguel Molina.

They ran 1-2 but only just ahead of a strong pair of Toyota GR010 Hybrids, who made the most of the drama thus far to climb up the grid together.

Both leading Ferraris ran within a second of each other with Molina eager to pass Hanson.

After just four minutes, however, the race’s fourth SC was deployed after Bernado Soasa’s #77 Proton Ford Mustang LMGT3 caught fire.

He stopped on the right-hand side at Turn 1 with heartbreak befalling the team who already had a chassis succumbed to fire damage during the Prologue.

On another restart, #8 Toyota driver Ryo Hirakawa fended off fourth place on Rene Rast’s #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar.

It was the contrary for Nyck de Vries behind the wheel of the #7 Toyota, who chased down Miguel Molina’s second-placed #50 Ferrari – a sustained fight which continued through the LMGT3 traffic the pair of drivers cut through.

The gaps eventually settled until Molina raced door-to-door on the main straight with Hanson’s #83 Ferrari, consequently taking the lead off him with an inside line into Turn 1 with a lapped #38 Cadillac V-Series.R (Sebastien Bourdais) aiding the situation for Molina.

Ferraris fight at the front, Toyotas turn on pressure

Into the seventh hour, the fight for second continued though it tasked Hanson with fending off de Vries, who was eagerly chasing down the #83 Ferrari in the same way he did with Molina.

Further back, a fight brewed for ninth place fronted by Peugeot – who have performed strongly so far and were notably denied victory last year when they ran out of fuel.

Kevin Magnussen in the #15 WRT BMW closed down on the rear of Malthe Jakobsen’s #94 Peugeot as Jean-Eric Vergne situated further ahead.

Magnussen turned on the pressure as Jakobsen worked tirelessly to use the LMGT3 traffic to his advantage, eventually relieved when Magnussen pitted and handed driving duties to Raffaele Marciello.

After seven hours, Nielsen led in the #50 Ferrari followed by Hanson in the #83 Ferrari.

Both Toyotas were in third and fourth, the #7 of de Vries followed by the #8 of Hirakawa – the latter GR010 having charged from the back of the Hypercar field and gained 13 places so far as Rene Rast occupied fifth place in the #20 WRT BMW.

McLaren lead on Corvette in LMGT3

Meanwhile in the LMGT3 class, United Autosports regular Marino Sato led the charge into the sixth hour at the wheel of the #95 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo.

Heart of Racing’s Mattia Drudi gave him pressure for the lead as the #27 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 EVO fought for the lead.

Sato responded through building the gap over 2.5 seconds on the #27 Aston Martin, as the SC deployed for the #77 Ford’s mechanical failure bunched the LMGT3s together again.

On the restart, the lead fight continued with Sato once again tasked with putting on a defence in efforts to retain his lead.

It was a difficult day for Iron Lynx with having to retire the #61 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 from earlier on, as their remaining #60 entrant served as a way of gaining data during what was more of a test session instead of a competitive maiden outing for the Stuttgart manufacturer in the WEC.

Sato sought relief when Drudi served a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pit release.

From the top, Sato led ahead of Daniel Juncadella’s #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and the #31 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO of Augusto Farfus.

Sebastien Baud continued a hardy effort in the #59 McLaren in fourth place ahead of Finn Gehrsitz’s #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3.

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Phil Hanson leads the 1812km Qatar, the opening race of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, in the ‘customer’ #83 AF Corse Ferrari.

The race is currently under safety car while debris on the racing line is cleared up, after Nico Varrone, in the #99 Proton Porsche 963, is cleared up after he ran over a kerb and lost bodywork.

Before the safety car, the Briton was 13 seconds ahead of factory Ferrari driver Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P, while the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Nyck de Vries is third.

Molina’s Ferrari teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, in the #51 Ferrari, was leading the race but the #51 has come unstuck by two drive-through penalties. One was for an earlier virtual safety car infringement, while another was for pitlane speeding, both when Giovinazzi was at the wheel. 

The cars have pitted under virtual safety car, with the safety car, which always comes out after virtual safety car in WEC, now collecting the cars back up.

Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 Toyota, is behind his teammate in fourth. In fifth is Rene Rast in the #20 BMW M Team WRT, while Norman Nato is sixth in the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R, which was delayed after the Cadillac clash earlier on.

In LMGT3, Marino Sato in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 7290S GT3 Evo leads. The two United Autosports McLarens have been near the front all race, having started 1-2 on the grid, but they’ve had stiff competition, including from the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3.

While Ben Barnicoat, in the #78 Lexus, sits seventh in class at the moment, the car has led significant periods of the race. Currently second behind the safety car is the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Mattia Drudi.

Third is the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Daniel Juncadella, while fourth goes to the sister #59 United Autosports McLaren of Sebastien Baud. Fifth is Kelvin van der Linde in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo.

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Antonio Giovinazzi of the #51 Ferrari 499P led after three hours at the FIA World Endurance Championship‘s Qatar 1812 km season-opener.

The pole-sitter headed the field of 34 cars running with three hours completed and seven hours remaining at the Lusail International Circuit.

Into the second racing hour, the leading factory Ferrari 499P Hypercars maintained their formation after the first round of pit stops.

AF Corse conducted smooth pit stops to coincide with the strong running by the #51 Ferrari ahead of the #50.

The #5 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar pitted early on during the opening hour due to a slow puncture.

During which, the team changed the front-right tyre and so with Julien Andlauer at the wheel, he ran in third place.

Meanwhile the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie returned to the track after the team installed another right-side door albeit with Alex Riberas instead of Harry Tincknell.

Peugeot ran a promising effort in the points threshold until Paul Di Resta (#93 Peugeot 9X8) served a drive-through penalty for a full-course-yellow procedure infringement.

Nevertheless, the Scotsman emerged back in 12th place behind his #94 Peugeot team-mate Loic Duval.

After starting in last place due to their qualifying mishap, the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid (Sebastien Buemi) ran up in sixth place ahead of the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, although Buemi had a close moment with Thomas Flohr’s #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 when they negotiated a corner together.

Raffaele Marciello of the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 pulled off a move on Di Resta into what was 10th position, as Dries Vanthoor replaced Marciello at the next pit stop after carrying out a single stint.

Disaster for JOTA aids Ferrari Hypercar trio’s lead

The first virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed due to Christian Reid’s stranded #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3.

Ferrari maintained their form but it was the two JOTA Cadillac V-Series.Rs which were at the centre of attention.

On the return to green flag racing, on Lap 75/2-hours-and-24-minutes into the 10-hour race, Alex Lynn of the #12 Cadillac misjudged Jenson Button’s #38 Cadillac as they prepared to restart.

Button braked after seemingly putting the power down, thus prompting Lynn to hit into the rear end of the #12 – which suffered significant front-end bodywork damage.

Both Cadillacs subsequently pitted as the mechanics performed repairs on each, including a new rear deck and end for the #38 as Lynn took in another front end replacement. Lynn exited the pits ahead of Button, both towards the back of the Hypercar field.

This meant that the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Yifei Ye jumped from P5 into P3, thus making it a 1-2-3 for Ferrari in the Hypercar category.

Ye set fast lap times after another restart, more successful in resuming the green flag action, as he set personal bests with the leading #51 driven by Giovinazzi.

With seven hours remaining, Giovinazzi led Antonio Fuoco with Ye in third. Robin Frijns held P4 in the #20 BMW ahead of Brendon Hartley’s #8 Toyota.

Unfortunate timing as this was, Fuoco lost his second place due to contact with the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor as Giovinazzi was awarded a drive-through for a FCY procedure infringement, gifting Ye (#83 Ferrari) the lead – all soon after the third hour passed.*

Lexus leads, McLarens pressured by WRT

Meanwhile in the LMGT3 category, the front-row McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evos – run by United Autosports – regained the lead after Arnold Robin’s #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 pitted and resided in third place behind the pair.

Spurred on with pace and determination, Robin set about closing the gap to Darren Leung’s #95 McLaren in front of him.

The Lexus demonstrated great form thus far in the race, having only lost a dominant lead during the pit stop sequence, whilst the #87 retired after contact earlier on.

Ahmed Al Harthy of the #46 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO closed down the gap on Robin’s Lexus. The top-four were within two seconds of each other, as the LMGT3 lead fight continued to intensify between the group.

At 1hour-and-45-minutes in, Leung submits to Al Harthy’s pressure who passed on inside line, the #95 McLaren inviting the #46 BMW in doing so.

During the next pit stop sequence, Al Harthy jumped both McLarens and entered second place as a result, with Robin having stayed out noticeably longer in the lead.

Reid lost the rear end of his Mercedes-AMG and beached himself into a gravel trap. The Iron Lynx team were suffering issues with both cars, though not surprising for their first WEC race with the machinery.

After three hours, Fenn Gehrisitz led the LMGT3 field in the #78 Lexus as James Cottingham followed in the #59, with Leung pitting.

Al Harthy held third for WRT as Ben Tuck resided fourth for the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3, as Simon Mann’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari rounded the top-five.

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Ferrari factory drivers James Calado and Nicklas Nielsen lead the 1812km Qatar with an hour gone, with both enjoying a small lead over the rest of the field.

Nielsen, in the #50 Ferrari 499P, took second off Kevin Magnussen, in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, at the start. The Dane tried to challenge Calado, who started the sister #51 Ferrari on pole, but couldn’t quite manage it.

Since then, the two have led the race, with Nielsen enjoying a gap of around seven seconds to Julien Andlauer, who pitted early off-kilter with everyone.

He has just under a second on the #20 BMW of Robin Frijns, the car which was started by Rene Rast.

Fifth is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, the satellite effort, of Robert Kubica.

Magnussen’s FCY issues

Magnussen started second and dropped to third when Nielsen overtook him. He remained third until the first full course yellow of the race.

When the race went green again, the speed limiter that controls a car’s speed under yellow did not correctly un-engage, causing the Dane to drop him third to ninth until he managed to get the car back up speed. At the first round of pitstops, he handed the car over to Raffaele Marciello, and now runs 15th.

JOTA-run Cadillacs fall back

The two JOTA-run Cadillacs started fourth and fifth, with Will Stevens in the #12 and Earl Bamber in the #38. Stevens was tagged by a fast-starting Habsburg at turn 1, who went from ninth to fourth, putting the Cadillac back to 12th.

Bamber ran fifth, behind Habsburg, until the Austrian overtook him. However, while passing James Cottingham’s #59 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3, he misjudged the space available, with bronze-rated Cottingham inadvertently tagging the Cadillac. Bamber spun and was relegated back to 17th.

As such, Bamber now runs sixth after the pitstops, and Stevens 12th. The two Toyotas, Mike Conway in the #7 is ahead of Sebastien Buemi in the #8. Ferdinand Habsburg is back where he started in ninth, while the #93 Peugeot of Paul di Resta is tenth.

McLaren 1-2 in LMGT3

In LMGT3, United Autosports lead 1-2, with James Cottingham in the #59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo ahead of teammate Darren Leung in the sister #95.

They started 1-2 but were soon overtaken Arnold Robin in the #78 Lexus RC F GT3. Robin extended a small lead to the McLarens, but he lost this at the pitstops with the McLarens retaking their 1-2.

Cottingham has a 3.6 second lead on Leung, who has a 7 second lead over Robin in the #378 ASP Lexus. Fourth is Ahmad Al Harthy in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3, while fifth is the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

See standings after an hour here.

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