#50 Ferrari took the Hypercar win in 2025 FIA WEC opener in Qatar 1812km race in a 1-2-3 finish, with #51 in third behind #83 AF Corse.
Ferrari has thrown down the gauntlet to its FIA World Endurance Championship rivals in the Qatar 1812km, as the ‘Prancing Horse’ cantered to a commanding one-two-three finish in the 2025 curtain-raiser. The Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar qualified on pole position in the hands of Antonio Giovinazzi, and all three of the Italian cars enjoyed a spell at the front of the 18-strong field in the ten-hour race.
The #51 crewed by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Giovinazzi looked to be in control until a third of the way through, when the latter incurred a drive-through penalty for an infringement under Virtual Safety Car conditions, dropping it to the tail-end of the top ten. From eighth on the grid, the privately-run #83 AF Corse entry then picked up the mantle, having passed the #50 ‘works’ car when it was tipped into a spin by the #15 BMW.
The scarlet and yellow Ferraris would subsequently engage in a duel for supremacy, with each looking the likely winner at different stages. In the car he was sharing with Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco produced a stellar stint to overhaul Robert Kubica during the final pit-stop phase, after which, he successfully staved the Pole off to the chequered flag to seal the first win of the season.
Withstanding sustained late pressure from a charging Pier Guidi on fresher Michelin rubber, Kubica held firm to secure the runner-up spoils for AF Corse alongside Yifei Ye and new recruit Philip Hanson, crossing the finish line a scant three tenths-of-a-second ahead of the Italian – and barely two seconds shy of victory. After picking up a string of penalties, a late safety car intervention brought the #51 crew back into contention, and third place cemented an impressive top three lockout for Ferrari – for the first time since the 1967 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona.
BMW M Team WRT wound up fourth with its #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 piloted by Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and ex-Formula 1 star Kevin Magnussen, despite the car falling down the order early on due to a pit speed limiter problem and a clash with an LMGT3 car. Defending Manufacturers’ champion Toyota claimed fifth and sixth places with its pair of GR010 Hybrids, the #8 leading home the sister car having started on the back row of the grid.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA had most cause to feel aggrieved at the end of the race, with a best finish of eighth for the #12 V-Series.R Hypercar not at all representative of its pace. Earl Bamber charged from 17th up to third following an early spin, only for Alex Lynn and Jenson Button to make contact with one another while placed first and second at a subsequent safety car restart, destroying both crew’s chances of success.
Alpine Endurance Team similarly looked strong in the opening stages as the #35 car confidently ran third in the hands of Ferdinand Habsburg before slipping down the field, while last year’s Qatar winner Porsche came away with a solitary point for tenth position with the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry, as the 963 struggled for speed throughout.
LMGT3 –
Fans were treated to a thrilling scrap for supremacy in LMGT3, as Daniel Juncadella in TF Sport’s #33 Corvette fended off a final hour challenge from Grégoire Saucy in United Autosports’ McLaren, with less than half-a-second separating the duelling pair following a breathless dash to the flag.
Victory for the ‘Vette had looked unlikely when it lined up only 13th on the grid in qualifying, but it would transpire to be a lucky number as Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating battled back from a brace of early errors to maintain the American car’s stellar recent form, following a double rostrum result in last season’s Bahrain finale and a win at Daytona.
Behind Saucy, United Autosports newcomer Sébastien Baud and James Cottingham, Timur Boguslavskiy held off two factory drivers in the closing laps to round out the rostrum in third for The Bend Team WRT, keeping Ben Barnicoat (Lexus) and Alessio Rovera (Ferrari) at bay as the trio flashed across the finish line blanketed by 0.343secs.
Result: http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/
[The story is as per press release]
