The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship got underway at Losail International Circuit, Qatar with the first two practice sessions of four as part of the Official Prologue ahead of the opening round on February 28.
In the first session, the Hypercar class saw Robert Kubica going quickest in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, setting a 1:41.673, 0.295 seconds quicker than Will Stevens in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R. Ferraris were first and third quickest with James Calado in the sister #51 car lapping the 5.419 km of the Qatar circuit in 1.42.188.
BMW M Team WRT saw its #15 and #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 set the 4th and 7th quickest times of the three-hour session with Dries Vanthoor finishing 4th quickest in the #15 car with a 1:42.195 and the #20 car in the hands of Robin Frijns lapping in 1:42.849.
2024 champions Toyota finished 10th and 15th quickest on the timing screens with the #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid lapping in 1:43.314 in the hands of Sebastien Buemi and Nyck de Vries putting in a 1:43.664 in the #7 car.
The two Aston Martin TOR Team Valkyries, making their WEC debut in Qatar finished 14th and 18th quickest, the #007 lapping in 1:43.663 with Harry Tincknell behind the wheel and Alex Riberas putting in a 1:44.738 in the #009 car.
In the LMGT3 field Akkodis ASP Team went quickest after Ben Barnicoat put in a 1:55.862 in the #78 Lexus RCF LMGT3. TF Sport had a positive session with Dani Janucadella lapping in 1:56.101 in the #33 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.2 to go second quickest and Charlie Eastwood putting in a 1:56.475 in the sister #81 Corvette to finish 5th quickest.
Vista AF Corse completed the top three in class when Davide Rigon lapped in 1:56.205 in the #54 Ferrari 296 LMGT3.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA cemented a solid start to the new season by putting both cars at the top of the timing screens for the second practice session, this time of four hours. Alex Lynn set a 1:39.575 within the first 4 minutes while Sebastien Bourdais put in a 1:39.788 to go second quickest. Third quickest in the Hypercar class was the #50 Ferrari AF Corse entry in which Antonio Fuoco lapped in 1:39.801.
In the GT3 class the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus finished the session quickest with a 1:54.959 in the hands of Jose Maria Lopez while the #33 TF Sport Corvette was second quickest with a 1:55.132, Dani Juncadella setting the time. Completing the top three was the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari with a 1:55.142, Alessio Rovera at the wheel.
The third practise session gets underway on Saturday February 22 at 1200 local time with the final four-hour session beginning at 1700 local time.
