Preview: 6h of Spa-Francorchamps

Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet

The final test run ahead of the 24 hours of Le Mans is scheduled coming weekend as we head to Belgium for the TOTAL Energies 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Traditionally held on Saturday, the race will start the 10th of May an hour later than usual, at 14.00h local time (13.00h U.K.). Last year's race was characterized by the #2 Cadillac's heavy crash near the end of the race, and JOTA snatching away the win under Ferrari's nose, having just stopped before the red flag.

There's a couple of changes in the driver's roster for the round at the Belgian Ardennes. At Porsche, Formula E driver Pascal Wehrlein and former Peugeot pilot Nico Mueller will be joining the #6 and #5 respectively, in preparation for their Le Mans effort. In the #6, Laurens Vanthoor is driving his home race.

At BMW, Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor are away on IMSA duties this weekend (Laguna Seca), and they will not be replaced. This means WRT's #15 will be driven only by Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello, while the #20 will be in the hands of René Rast and Robin Frijns.

The other local hero in the Hypercar class is driving the #94 Peugeot 9x8 EVO: former McLaren F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne will share the car with Loïc Duval and youngster Malthe Jakobsen.

In LMGT3, Iron Lynx is also letting two Le Mans drivers getting used to their car and team: Australians Stephen and Brenton Grove (father and son) will replace the injured Schiavoni and his teammate Cressoni in the #61 Mercedes. Furthermore, Ben Barnicoat will be replaced by Yuichi Nakayama again in the #78 Lexus, as he makes his recovery following a mountain bike accident earlier this year.

There's a couple of changes in the Balance of Performance as well. Ferrari and Toyota are hit the hardest by both a power decrease and a weight increase. The 499p has 12kg success weight added, the Toyota 4kg. BMW also gets some significant ballast, with 7kg added. The two front runners also received a 19kw and 20kw power decrease under 250 kph respectively. They did receive an increase however above the 250 kph mark of 18kw and 40kw.

In LMGT3, all cars except the Mustang also receive a power decrease, where the Porsche 911 and the Corvette suffer the hardest hit. Their power is reduced by 5 percent under the 200 kph mark. The McLaren and BMW suffer a 4% decrease.