WEC Season Preview Pt. 2: Top Storylines For 2025
Welcome to Part 2 of our 2025 World Endurance Championship season preview!
If you missed Part 1 (how DARE YOU) check it out via the link here.
If you're a real one and already read up on Part 1, continue on to Part 2 AND LET'S GET HYPED UP FOR RACING BOYS!!!
1. Factory Caddy's Are On the Block
Team Jota have won just about everything there is to win in motorsports and their latest challenge will come in the form of their new partnership with Cadillac and the V-Series.R as they fight to bring a championship to American soil (you get the idea). There's no doubting that the Cadillac LMDh has the chops to compete for a Drivers' or Manufactures' title; the challenges that submarined Cadillac/Chip Ganassi last season came in the form of spectacular crashes or multiple versions of ill-timed bad luck (bad luck never comes at a great time, but yeah) that wiped out their chances to claim victory. CGR had a much better '23 than '24, which was highlighted by their P3 finish at Le Mans and three other top-five finishes, yet the back half of the season was less than stellar with results of 10th/10th/11th to round things out. The No. 2 finished P5 in the standings behind both Toyota's and both Ferrari's in 2023, yet that momentum did not carry over to 2024 as the car struggled to compete when the chips were on the table - everyone remembers the crashes at Spa and Fuji, never mind the post-race DSQ following the season opener. HTJ have loaded up on the driver talent for 2025 with the Killer B's of Bamber, Bourdais and Button in the No. 38 while Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Will Stevens will pilot the No. 12. It's important to point out in the 'Well No Shit Fact of the Week' that there will be two Cadillac's on track instead of the full-season solo effort that the No. 2 put in the last two years. It opens up more for opportunity and race strategy and puts the Cadillac level against every other team/Hypercar as things play out on the track, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more qualified outfit that Jota Sport to go out and get the job done.
2. K Mag Is In the Building and BMW M Team WRT Are Loaded
If we're talking about teams that are loaded the F up for 2025, BMW M Team WRT certainly fit the bill. BMW have navigated the growing pains of the M Hybrid V8 in IMSA for two years and WRT managed an up-and-down first season in the WEC last year, yet as more experience and development comes with the car, so too does a revamped driver stable. The German marquee declared that they're done with so-so results when they revealed their unified IMSA/WEC lineup for 2025 - complete with securing the services of veteran Formula 1 man Kevin Magnussen. K Mag is putting in a full-season commitment for the No. 15 alongside Dries Vanthoor and Rafaelle Marciello, while the No. 20 will see the trio of René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde do battle, giving a 1-2 punch of talent that can go up against any other team in the paddock. The No. 24 and No. 25 had a great showing at the Rolex 24 last month as both cars crossed the finish line (imagine that for the M Hybrid V8!!!) and if it wasn't for late damage suffered in the last hour of the race, the No. 24 (the same driver combination as the No. 15 + Philipp Eng) could've pulled off what would've been a historic result for everyone involved. Regardless of the disappointing end result, BMW are here to play and it'll be fascinating to see if the fine-tuning that RLL have managed to find in IMSA can translate over to Team WRT across the pond.
3. Iron Dames Back To Porsche
The experiment with the Lamborghini Huracan is done and dusted, and the Iron Dames find themselves back with Porsche for the new season. Some shuffling of the driver stable has resulted in the trio of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gating, Célia Martin taking over the efforts for the No. 85, which comes with a partnership with multiple-time-winners-of-just-about-everything Manthey and 1st Phorm. It's a coupling made in Porsche Heaven as the Iron Ladies fall back into a car that they're very familiar with, and after some substantial changes to how they do racin' business, Manthey find a strong dance partner to share the track with after their program rebrand and split from title-winning Lithuanian outfit PureRxcing. It's a dream scenario for the teams and fans as the 911 GT3 R's remain in very capable hands for the new year, while also giving the Dames an opportunity to fight for wins and an LMGT3 title.
4. Minor Changes To the Rulebook
We'll see a handful of minor changes to the rulebook in the new season but its nothing groundbreaking. To be honest the biggest 'rule change' if you could even really call it that was the two-car Hypercar mandate that is now in place moving forward for the class. Other than that, we have some tweaks here and there meant to make subtle improvements -
- Drivers will not be eligible to score points unless they complete a minimum drive time of 45 minutes, adjusted down from 60 minutes last season
- In a move that was made to "enhance the fan experience," the leader lights have been replaced for LED display panels on the sides of the cars, a move that was more of an annoyance for teams as they had to squeeze them onto the car and of course cover the cost
- LMGT3 teams will deploy their Bronze-rated driver for Qualifying and then see them swapped out for their Silver-rated driver for Hyperpole
- The LMGT3 number color has been swapped back to green
- It isn't quite the level of the FIA banning Big Bad Swear Words in Formula 1, but public criticism of the Balance of Power process is prohibited and will come with fines/suspensions
5. Everything Is Great - Buuuut We Did Fall Short of A Capacity Grid
37 cars (mostly) ran on track in 2024 - yet 36 cars will do battle in 2025. The number total is thrown off a bit after Isotta Fraschini bit the dust just before COTA, but the overall point remains that the WEC has fallen four cars short of their forecasted 40-car capacity grid for this season. Now, is it the end of the world? No not at all because this season is still going to kick ass across the board. However, it is an insight into how that even though we're firmly in the middle of the New Golden Age of Motorsport there are still plenty of challenge$$$$ that teams and programs have to manage as this beast continues to grow and grow. Let's play pretend and assume that things remain the same for 2026 with the current 18/18 class split - we already know Hyundai is joining the fun with their dual-entry Genesis Magma Racing team, which will put us at 38 cars - and hopefully we can see two more privateer Hypercar teams enter in to take a bite at the apple and boom we're at 40 cars. But, as was referenced in Part 1 of this season preview, it's 2027 when things get very precarious once Ford enters with their own prototype machine, along with potential entries for McLaren and Mercedes-AMG, which at that point we'll suddenly see a crunching of available space on the grid real fast. We'll enjoy things now, but be ready for the looming Great Prototype War as the battle between factory programs and privateer entries plays out, and it's easy to assume that preference for space on the grid will be given to the factory outfits. We'll worry about that later.
So there you have it - five more storylines that capture the near-maniacal hype that is building towards another WEC season. Follow along with us at MMH as we recap the Prologue this weekend - don't look now but those HTJ Cadillac's are lookin' fast as hell!
(cover photo pressbmwgroup.com)
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