WEC 2025: a smaller but still prestigious line-up
After an incredible 2024 season, the next vintage knows its participants. There will be 36 cars in the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories. One manufacturer has left, another is taking over.
There were 38 cars entered in the WEC for the season that has just ended. The year 2025 promises to be even more historic, even though there will be fewer cars.
The entry list published on Friday by WEC, FIA and ACO revealed once and for all the numbers of the two Aston Martin Valkyrie, whose melodious V12 will further diversify the sound diversity of the Hypercar category. They will be numbered 007, reminiscent of the Lola in LMP1 era, and 009.
The competition, on the other hand, will always be just as fierce: there will always be the big factories, each committed with two cars. Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Peugeot, Alpine, passing through Cadillac, officially operated by the Jota team. But this new rule, imposing two cars per brand, led Lamborghini to drop out of the WEC.
The builder from Sant’Agata Bolognese is not abandoning the Hypercar project, as an SC63 will be entered in IMSA, where it is possible to enter only one car. Moreover, in a statement, Lamborghini mentioned a break in the WEC. Perhaps this will be temporary.
Private teams in Hypercar will be down to just two (or one and a half if we extrapolate): AF Corse’s Ferrari No. 83 will still be there and Proton, for now, is only entering one Porsche 963, still adorned with the No. 99. It’s possible that the German team, which manages the Ford Mustangs in LMGT3, will have a second Hypercar, considering that the WEC grid can now accommodate 40 cars.
Mercedes takes over from Lamborghini.
This is the big change coming in this new WEC season: Mercedes will be back in endurance racing and, therefore, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 25 years after its last appearance with the CLK-GTR.
A move to Hypercar is not yet being considered, even though rumors are rife. However, the German manufacturer will have valuable support, as the AMG GT3s will be run by the former right-hand man of Lamborghini, Iron Lynx. They will carry the numbers 60 and 61.
Already absent in Hypercar, the Huracan will also not be in LMGT3, which will now display numerology on a green background, like the GTE-Pro until 2022. However, the number of manufacturers in the WEC remains unchanged, as there will be thirteen in total, as in 2024.
The team nomenclature will vary little, except for Porsche: the N°92, defending champion, will be called Manthey 1st Phorm, while les Iron Dames, de retour dans le giron de Stuttgart, will keep their unchangeable N°85.
The latest significant change concerns one of the two Aston Martin in the GT class: D’Station Racing hands over to the French team Spirit of Leman, with the No. 10, which was previously competing in ELMS.
Regarding Mercedes and McLaren, perhaps this new LMGT3 season will be a springboard for an arrival in Hypercar by 2027. Let’s allow 2025 to try to be even crazier than 2024 by then. And good luck achieving that!
