WEC: Thirty-Seven Entries for Spa-Francorchamps Challenge in May

WEC: Thirty-Seven Entries for Spa-Francorchamps Challenge in May

Sport news

The circuit in the Ardennes Forest hosted the first European WEC event back in May 2012 and is one of only two circuits that has been on the calendar in every season for the past ten years, the other being Le Mans.  Also, for the first time since 2019, the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps returns to its position as the final dress rehearsal for the teams and drivers ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

The Hypercar category will once again feature four entries, with the winners of the 1000 Miles of Sebring and the two Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010s having unchanged line ups from the opening round of the championship.  

The no708 Glickenhaus Racing 007 LMH will see Brazilian ‘Pipo’ Derani replacing American Ryan Briscoe, who will join Olivier Pla and Romain Dumas behind the wheel for the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

LMGTE Pro will see Chevrolet, Ferrari and Porsche going head-to-head, with Porsche looking to extend its lead in the Manufacturers World Championship following the double podium in Florida.  

All five cars have unchanged driver line-ups from the opening race of the season in the USA. 

1000 Miles of Sebring race winner Kevin Estre won at Spa-Francorchamps in 2020 with his current teammate Michael Christensen and in 2021 with Neel Jani and will be hoping to repeat his race-winning performances in 2022 to extend his championship lead.

The LMP2 class will see another bumper grid of 15 cars for the second race of the season with three driver changes amongst the 45 who raced in the USA.

British racer Alex Lynn will join 1000 Miles of Sebring class winners Oliver Jarvis and Joshua Pierson in the no23 United Autosports USA Oreca-Gibson, replacing Paul Di Resta behind the wheel.

2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona overall winner and 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro winner Sebastien Bourdais will join Nico Muller and Ryan Cullen in the no10 Vector Sport Oreca, the French driver replacing Mike Rockenfeller for the race in Belgium.

Alex Brundle returns to the Inter Europol Competition team in place of Fabio Scherer, joining Jakub Smiechowski and Esteban Gutierrez in the no34 Oreca 07-Gibson.

The LMGTE AM grid is boosted to 13 cars with the return of the GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Mike Wainwright, Riccardo Pera and Ben Barker.

Belgium’s Jan Heylen will be joining the no88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche for his home race alongside Americans Patrick Lindsey and Fred Poordad.

The other 11 cars feature unchanged driver line-ups, including winners the 1000 Miles of Sebring class, Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard and Nicki Thiim in the no98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin Vantage AMR.

The TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps weekend will get underway on Thursday 5th May, with qualifying on Friday 6th May, followed by Round 2 of the FIA World Endurance Championship on Saturday 7th May.

World Endurance Championship

WECWEC 6 Hours of Spa-FrancorchampsWECSEASON 2022SportCircuit1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2022WECWEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps00Friday, March 25, 2022 – 3:36pmFriday, March 25, 2022 – 3:36pm

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