After the 6h of Imola ended a few days ago, it is already time for the FIA World Endurance Championship to think about the next event of the 2024 season, the 6h of Spa-Francorchamps.
The races will take place in the Ardennes from Thursday 9th to Saturday 11th May and today the entry list of the 37 cars that we will see in action in Belgium was announced.
As always, 19 Hypercars and 18 LMGT3s are confirmed, but the main news concerns the prototype category since, as has been known for some time, some teams will be forced to give up some drivers, who will be involved in FIA Formula E for the double race of Berlin.
The choices of the teams had been explained a few weeks ago and now we have the official information that, for example, it will not be the only Cadillac to field a two-driver crew (Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber in the case of V-Series.R #2) , but also Peugeot and the Jota team.
As for the Lion team, on the 9X8 #93 we will see Mikkel Jensen/Nico Müller and on the #94 Paul Di Resta/Loïc Duval, as Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne will fly to Germany to be at the wheel of their respective DS Penske.
The choice of the double pair for Spa will see Malthe Jakosben remain available as a reserve, should it be necessary to replace an unavailable starter. At Peugeot they had also thought about employing the Dane for the first time, but then – rightly – common sense prevailed also with a view to finding a further 'bench driver' already ready to take over.
#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Loic Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne, #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne and Malthe Jakobsen, Peugeot
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
Jota will not have Norman Nato, so the #12 Porsche 963 will be shared by Callum Ilott/Will Stevens.
As already anticipated on Saturday, Lamborghini Squadra Corse have instead chosen Andrea Caldarelli as the third driver to join Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, given that Edoardo Mortara will be at the Berlin e-Prix.
Also noteworthy is the presence of Ferdinand Habsburg on the Alpine #35, even if the French team has not yet officially resolved its reservations about the Austrian, who is currently carrying out physical recovery work after the vertebrae injury suffered in a testing accident pre-Imola.
On Santerno it was Jules Gounon who took his place and the transalpine could be in the game again, even if in Alpine they are counting on being able to reintroduce the starter into the team.
In LMGT3 the preview we gave you last week is finally confirmed, that is, that Ritomo Miyata will race on the Lexus #78 of Akkodis-ASP with Timur Boguslavskiy and Arnold Robin instead of Kelvin Van Der Linde, who will face the challenge in Formula E with the ABT Cupra team in turn as a replacement for the Peugeot driver, Müller.
Rahel Frey will be back in action on the Lamborghini #85 of the Iron Dames, given that Doriane Pin will now be involved in the new adventure in the Formula Regional European Championship, which will still allow her to return at least for the 24h of Le Mans.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Ferrari
THE PROGRAM
In Belgium, as per tradition, everything is a day earlier than usual, so the first activities on the track will be with the Free Practice on Thursday, followed on Friday by the third session and subsequently by the duels for Qualifying and Hyperpole.
The race will take place on Saturday afternoon, but let's see in detail all the official times published by the WEC for the third event of the 2024 season.
THURSDAY 9 MAY
Free Practice 1: 11.30am-1.00pm
Free Practice 2: 5.30pm-7.00pm
FRIDAY 10 MAY
Free Practice 3: 11.00-12.00
Qualifying and Hyperpole LMGT3: 2.45pm
Qualifying and HYPERCAR Hyperpole: 3.30pm
SATURDAY 11 MAY
Race: 1pm-7pm
#WEC #list #participants #program #Spa
