A year on from Porsche’s famous 1-2-3 finish in the 2024 running of the Qatar 1812KM, Ferrari and AF Corse achieved the same feat tonight under the floodlights with its trio of 499Ps to kick off the 2025 FIA WEC season.
It was an astonishing result for the Italian marque, which benefitted from the challenges of its closest rivals on pace – BMW and Cadillac – faltering in the action-packed 10-hour race at the Lusail International Circuit.
Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen powered to victory from third on the grid in the #50, executing an effective tyre strategy into the night as the temperature dropped. The 2024 Le Mans winning trio – who started the race on medium tyres – spent much of the race running with Michelin hards on the left and medium rubber on the right.
“We came here with really good preparation and we showed the work in the winter was worth it,” Fuoco said after capturing the historic result for Ferrari. “To secure P1, P2 and P3 for the team sets us up for the rest of the season.”
They were rapid throughout and recovered well from a spin in the opening half of the race caused by contact with the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, which cost the team a chunk of time.
“Luckily we didn’t touch hard, I think the car was quite ok,” Fuoco added when asked if the contact damaged the winning car.
The #50 first took control of the race when Molina powered past Phil Hanson for the lead in the #83 privately-entered 499P from AF Corse at Turn 1 with just over four hours remaining.
It wasn’t quite done and dusted though. In the ninth hour, the car fell to second because its ninth stop for right-side tyres and a driver change was 10 seconds slower than the #83. This dropped Antonio Fuoco behind the bright yellow challenger, forcing him to sit back and wait patiently before pouncing again.
Kubica held station until a tense round of final stops which saw multiple tyre strategies play out amongst the front-runners. However, Fuoco, on fresher tyres, was able to retake the lead on his final service after a rapid in-lap a quicker stop. By pitting eight minutes later he saved seven seconds while refuelling and emerged from pit lane back in front. In the end, after managing a heavily worn front-left tyre, he took the win by a margin of 2.3 seconds.
It wasn’t a win, but for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari second place was a highly encouraging result for Yifei Ye, team debutant Hanson and Kubica. They were in contention throughout and came home in the runner-up spot after Kubica nursed the car home on worn tyres having taken two fuel-only stops to end the race.
Ferrari’s second factory car, the #51, started from pole but had its plans for victory scuppered by two drive-through penalties for a VSC infringement and pit lane speeding and a pair of time penalties served in pitstops after an on-track collision with the 20 BMW and an overtake completed off-track. Salvaging a podium was an impressive achievement though. Alessandro Pier Guidi battled hard with Kubica for second in the closing laps but couldn’t find a way past.
Just off the podium, the #15 WRT BMW came home fourth after the team opted for a fuel-only final stop to gain track position over the two Toyotas in the final hour. Had the #15 not suffered an electrical glitch which saw Kevin Magnussen drop like a stone after an early FCY restart, undergone a front clip change and been handed a drive-through for the tangle with the #50, it may have had a chance at glory.
Reigning Manufacturers’ Champion Toyota Gazoo Racing went into the race with low expectations. Its GR010 HYBRIDs lacked outright pace and the #8 qualified 17th, but a metronomic run saw it claim fifth and sixth.
The #20 BMW took seventh ahead of the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R which spent most of the race recovering from a dramatic incident with the sister car at a third hour restart.
The British team’s cars came together while sitting first and second after being helped out by the timing of the safety car period. Jenson Button in the #38 braked hard into Turn 15 as the Safety Car was peeling in, and a perhaps over-eager Alex Lynn in the #12 behind rear-ended him.
Both sustained heavy damage and needed to dive straight into the pit lane for new bodywork, handing the lead back to Ferrari. Lynn felt Button had brake-tested him in the heat of the moment, but the stewards disagreed, handing the #12 a drive-through for the incident.
The #38, after repairs and an additional trip to the pit box to solve throttle issues, ended up finishing 16th. The #12, after serving its penalty, could only manage eighth.
12 months on from Porsche Penske Motorsport’s breakthrough win and dominant finish, it was a miserable outing for the German marque’s Hypercar factory team on its second visit to Lusail. Both cars lacked outright pace for the entire meeting and failed to feature at the sharp end.
The #5 car suffered an early slow puncture and a rear damper element repairs en route to 10th, while the sister #6 car – which also needed to pit unexpectedly for a slow puncture – lost time to a rear clip change and finished down in 11th.
It was also a tough day for both French OEMs. Alpine’s A424s looked quick but endured messy outings, finishing outside the points. And Peugeot’s 9X8s were largely anonymous aside from a few entertaining battles for positions in the mid-pack. The higher placed of its two LMH challengers ended up ninth. It was a far cry from the team’s head-turning performance with the previous-spec car in last year’s event.
As for the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries, it was a predictably challenging WEC debut.
The #009 limped home 23 laps down, after losing time to its passenger door blowing off in the opening hour and a vibration issue that needed time in the garage to investigate.
The sister car fared no better, retiring after 181 laps with a transmission issue. Nevertheless, the team leaves Qatar having gathered a ton of data and experience and will aim to build on that when its IMSA crew makes its GTP debut next month in Sebring.
TF beats United in LMGT3 thriller
The LMGT3 lead battle raged on right to the end, with TF Sport’s #33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R winning the race from 13th on the grid.
Daniel Juncadella secured the result for himself, Ben Keating and WEC LMGT3 rookie Jonny Edgar with a defensive masterclass in the final hour.
The Spaniard was forced to keep a hard-charging Gregoire Saucy behind him after the final stops. The Swiss made multiple attempts to get by, and at one point was side-by-side with a nose ahead, but the #59 McLaren crew were forced to settle for second having had race-winning pace all day.
“It was a lot of pressure. I didn’t think I could hold him but I just focused on hitting my marks. I could see where he was stronger, he had a couple of chances to go for it but I think he was just unsure,” Juncadella said.
“Going to bed last night, I didn’t expect that we would end up here,” Edgar added. “To be honest I was hoping for top-eight or top-six… just a clean race and some points. In the Prologue we were happy with the car but in Free Practice and qualifying, we seemed to struggle.
“A few small changes we made really helped the car today. We still weren’t the fastest but we were good enough, the strategy was amazing, the pit stop and everything… nobody made mistakes. It was just a very good race all around, and I’m very happy to win my first WEC race.”
The victory for TF was the Z06 GT3’s first in WEC competition, and the car’s second victory of 2025, after AWA won the GTD class at the Rolex 24 Hours back in January.
On the other side of the lead battle, Saucy admitted to reporters after the race that he had nothing more to give.
“The pace was there, I was faster but he was so strong just where I had the chance to overtake,” he said. “We know he is a strong driver, and it’s only my second year in GTs. There’s more for me to understand.”
Third in the class went to The Bend WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, which like the #33 started outside the top 10 and spent the race gradually climbing the standings. Timur Boguslavskiy was in at the end and led early in Hour 10 before taking a splash that cost him two places.
The top five was finished by the #78 AKKODIS ASP Lexus, arguably the surprise package of the week, and the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari.
United’s second McLaren, which started from pole position, looked odds on for a win on multiple occasions but fell to seventh after a drive-through for a pit stop infringement late in the race.
It was a forgettable outing for the two Manthey Porsches, which according to Ryan Hardwick pre-race were “down on power” all week. After the 911 GT3 R 992 won the opener last year with the title-winning Pure Rxcing team, both cars ended up outside the points and two laps down this time.
The 1st Phorm car came home 12th – behind the #46 BMW which accrued multiple penalties for track limits and fell away – and ahead of the Iron Dames example.
Iron Lynx and Proton Competition also had a day to forget. Both Mercedes-AMGs hit trouble and only the #60 was still running at the end, though it wasn’t classified after circulating nearly 100 laps down following a clutch issue.
As for Ford partner team Proton, the #88 finished 10th and the #77 succumbed to its second fire in a week, when Bernardo Sousa was forced to park the Mustang with a smoke-filled cockpit after 148 laps.
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