The Qatar 1812 km sets the FIA World Endurance Championship ball rolling this Saturday 2 March. Here’s where you can keep up with the action in the opening round of the 2024 season.

Le Mans Series

FIA WEC

After a first win in 2024, the Porsche Penske Motorsport #7 Porsche 963 took victory at the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona. The German hypercar’s record now includes two 24-hour race wins.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche&nbsp;963, driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor, triumphed at the Rolex&nbsp;24 at Daytona, the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. This win marks the German manufacturer&rsquo;s 20th victory at the Florida classic and a second 24-hour race win for the Hypercar since its racing d&eacute;but in 2023.

Porsche Penske Motorsport demonstrated remarkable mastery throughout the 63rd running of the Rolex&nbsp;24 at Daytona. Late in the evening, both Porsche&nbsp;963s took the lead and maintained their position at the front of the pack until the final hours of the race, culminating in a decisive sprint to victory against the #60 Acura fielded by Acura Meyer Shank Racing.&nbsp; The #6 Porsche&nbsp;963, driven by Jaminet/Campbell/Estre, finished third.

<h2>Nick Tandy cements his place in endurance racing history</h2>

&nbsp;This was Felipe Nasr&rsquo;s second consecutive victory at the Rolex&nbsp;24 at Daytona. Meanwhile, Nick Tandy became the first driver to win all four major 24-hour races: Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps, N&uuml;rburgring and Daytona. &ldquo;Eleven years ago was the last time I was on the top step of the Daytona podium &ndash; back then in the GT class with a red and white Porsche. Three years of hard work have brought us here. We all did it together. At some point years ago, someone told me that nobody had ever managed to achieve overall victory in the four biggest 24-hour races. Since that day, this goal has been in the back of my mind. Now it has been realised. It feels great to be the first person to achieve something like this.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&ldquo;Winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice in a row is a monumental achievement,&rdquo; points out Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. &ldquo;The tension was huge. We did not always have the fastest car, but we were consistent and made the fewest mistakes.&nbsp; This victory is a perfect start to the new season!&rdquo;

<h2>The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the next challenge for Porsche</h2>

At the 63rd Rolex&nbsp;24 at Daytona, Porsche was up against Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Lamborghini. The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 could have been a contender for victory, but a mistake by Dries Vanthoor wiped out its chances. Nevertheless, the car finished fourth, ahead of the Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing #10 Cadillac V-Series.R.

The Tower Motorsports #8 Oreca&nbsp;07-Gibson, steered by John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez, S&eacute;bastien Bourdais and Job Van Uitert, triumphed in the LMP2 class. In GTD Pro, the Ford Multimatic Motorsports #65 Ford Mustang&nbsp;GT3 took the win, while the AWA #13 Corvette&nbsp;Z06 GT3.R secured first place on the podium in GTD.

With 138 days to go to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (11-15 June 2025), this performance puts&nbsp;Porsche firmly on the list of favourites. However, the Stuttgart-based brand will face fierce competition from the Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota hypercars. Let&rsquo;s not forget the Porsche&nbsp;963&rsquo;s achievement in the Hyperpole session last year. However, as the race unfolded, it became clear that the assignment was going to be tougher than expected. Porsche was held back by some questionable strategic choices, especially where tyres were concerned, combined with a lower top speed than Ferrari and Toyota. Since then, Porsche has clearly stated its main goal for 2025: securing a 20th victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We also know that significant modifications have been made to <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/will-porsche-s-new-suspension-provide-springboard-for-20th-le-mans-win-59211" target="_blank">the 963&rsquo;s suspension</a>.

The 1812&nbsp;km of Qatar race, the first round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) scheduled for February 28, will be an opportunity to see how the German Hypercar has evolved over the winter.

The Porsche 963 adds a second 24-hour race to its list of achievements

Tailored to the spectator experience, the 24 Hours of Le Mans consistently provokes intense emotions-turned-memories throughout race week and the main event. Plenty of factors contribute to the visual spectacle, including racing car tints.

Variety on the track has always been the name of the game at Le Mans, now more so than ever with&nbsp;Hypercars competing since&nbsp;2021. As&nbsp;it is sometime&nbsp;difficult to differentiate between&nbsp;prototypes, colour plays a crucial role, in some cases representing a sponsor and in others&nbsp;a 100-year-old story.

<h2>The Past Fully Present</h2>

Some say motorsport was invented shortly after the second car was made. Though a slight&nbsp;exaggeration, it is true the development of current&nbsp;racing&nbsp;disciplines dates back. At the beginning of the&nbsp;20th century, the first European competitions brought together carmakers from various countries. So how to make individual&nbsp;provenance recognizable to everyone? By a clever colour code.

When the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans was created in&nbsp;1923, the French&nbsp;chose blue, the Italians red, the Germans and Americans white, the Belgians yellow and the Brits green.&nbsp;

These colours have always played a major&nbsp;role in the visual impact of the race,&nbsp;though the tradition found itself forever altered by the arrival of sponsors in the late&nbsp;1960s. Some carmakers&nbsp;are keen, however,&nbsp;to honour their legacy, particularly at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

<h2>Back to Basics?</h2>

Certain teams managed to find sponsors whose colour palette matched their own, but that proved rare. In the mid-2000s&nbsp;on the other hand, the gradual disappearance of title sponsors, who reigned&nbsp;in the 1980s, revitalised the use of&nbsp;historic colours in a rather surprising way.&nbsp;A title sponsor&nbsp;on a racing car&nbsp;is a marque who&nbsp;takes up all the space, thereby controlling colour(s) on&nbsp;the entire bodywork&nbsp;without the possibility of displaying other sponsors. These days,&nbsp;constructors competing in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fiawec.com/en/" target="_blank">FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC)</a>&nbsp;make room for&nbsp;many different marques&nbsp;so that no specific&nbsp;one dominates.

<h2>A Legacy of Colour</h2>

Two examples illustrate the point perfectly&nbsp;and currently contribute greatly to the visual identity of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.&nbsp;Alpine, founded in&nbsp;1955 by&nbsp;Jean R&eacute;d&eacute;l&eacute;, spotlights blue&nbsp;on its&nbsp;A424. A fan favourite, the French carmaker embraces&nbsp;its origins. The same can be said for&nbsp;Ferrari of course. The colour red is&nbsp;indelibly linked&nbsp;and consistenly chosen to represent&nbsp;the Italian marque on the track. It is probably the most well-known hue in motorsport, possibly ahead of British Racing Green proudly preferred by&nbsp;Bentley, Jaguar, Lotus and&nbsp;Aston Martin across the years. With just a&nbsp;quick look&nbsp;at the winner of the 2023 and 2024&nbsp;24 Hours, any fan would know it was a Ferrari,&nbsp;simply&nbsp;from the colour. For the team&#39;s #83 499P fielded last year, AF Corse opted for a vivid yellow, a direct reference to Ferrari&#39;s second historic colour, that of its logo and the city of Modena.

Engineers work hard every year to ensure the fastest possible top speed for their cars.&nbsp;But the silhouette, logo, and above all&nbsp;the colour, are invaluable in sharing with&nbsp;spectators&nbsp;the history of the marque,&nbsp;transcending&nbsp;performance level.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/the-24-hours-of-le-mans-a-feast-for-the-eyes-59084" target="_blank">One glance</a>&nbsp;is enough to span the&nbsp;entire past century and connect us to&nbsp;the carmaker&#39;s&nbsp;future in the next century.

Emotions always run high at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans, Ignite your Senses | At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, every detail counts, and the sense of touch plays a crucial role in the relationship between driver and car. Sarah Bovy, a driver with the Iron Dames team competing in the LMGT3 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, believes that the physical connection with the car is crucial to her performance and the sensations experienced on track.

In a racing car, each vibration, bump and kerb sends a message to the driver. Touch therefore plays a pivotal role in performance. &ldquo;The way you hold the steering wheel is fundamental,&rdquo; says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/sarah-bovy-the-rise-of-a-passionate-and-committed-iron-dame-59183" target="_blank">Sarah Bovy, driver for Iron Dames</a>&nbsp;in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Race steering wheels are anything but one-size-fits-all. They are designed to ensure optimal grip while adapting to the preferences of each driver. &ldquo;I have very long hands, so if the wheel feels too thin, I&rsquo;ll add some extra thickness to it.&nbsp;My teammates with smaller hands prefer a different configuration.&rdquo; It is important to strike the right balance to achieve maximum precision and comfort during the race.

<h2>Vibrations: the language of the track</h2>

&ldquo;They say you drive a race car with your backside,&rdquo; Bovy smiles. Seated low in custom-moulded seats,&nbsp;drivers feel every vibration from the track. These vibrations are transmitted through the tyres, then via the steering column and chassis, prompting drivers to rapidly adjust their technique. Driving over a kerb is an intense physical experience: &ldquo;Although the&nbsp;sensations are pretty jarring, they help us keep control of the car.&nbsp;We work with our engineers to try and smooth out the sensations, to reduce any disruption to the car&rsquo;s stability and to optimise the driver&rsquo;s experience,&rdquo; Bovy explains.

<h2>Sensory awareness at the wheel</h2>

Endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans put a driver&rsquo;s senses to the ultimate test. After hours at the wheel, things start to feel very different. &ldquo;In the final stints, we always feel like we&rsquo;re in zombie mode before getting into the car.&nbsp;But it&rsquo;s astonishing how quickly our senses are heightened as soon as we&rsquo;re back behind the wheel. Until we get in the car, we can&rsquo;t seem to shake off that brain-fog feeling. But as soon as the car hits the ground after a tyre change, we&rsquo;re jolted awake, and we return to the track with almost the same energy as at the start of the race.&rdquo;

To excel, a driver must be fully in synch with their car and the sense of touch plays a fundamental role in this. Drivers will&nbsp;detect changes such as a loss of grip or the car&rsquo;s response over a kerb, analysing the slightest&nbsp;differences in real time. This physical link is one of the keys to success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It&rsquo;s proof that the iconic race really is a sensory experience, where&nbsp;driver and machine communicate through the subtle language of touch.

.

The power of touch at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: driver and machine in perfect synch

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has named the drivers who will take the wheel of the two Peugeot 9X8s that will compete in the 2025 World Endurance Championship, including the season’s highlight, the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (11-15 June).

The French manufacturer will field two Peugeot 9X8 Hypercars in the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. Car #93 will be driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul Di Resta and Mikkel Jensen. Meanwhile, Lo&iuml;c Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne and Malthe Jakobsen will share the wheel of #94.

Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of the Peugeot Sport FIA WEC programme, indicated how the two trios were put together. &ldquo;We have built our line-ups based on a precise balance between experience and dynamism,&quot; he said. &quot;Mikkel Jensen, Jean-&Eacute;ric Vergne and Paul Di Resta, in car #93, bring strong cohesion, proven expertise, and great consistency. While Lo&iuml;c Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Malthe Jakobsen, in car #94, combine the strategic vision of seasoned drivers with the energy and boldness of a promising young talent. Th&eacute;o Pourchaire , who completed his first endurance tests in December, completes the 2025 line-up as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/theo-pourchaire-named-reserve-driver-for-team-peugeot-totalenergies-59178" target="_blank">test driver</a>&nbsp;for the new season. We look forward to seeing these drivers give their best on the track and thrilling fans around the world.&quot;

With such talent behind the wheel, backed by an ambitious programme, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies is ready to meet the challenge of the 2025 FIA WEC season and especially its home race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team invites fans to support them at the Qatar 1812 Km on 28 February for the opening round of a season that promises to be intense. Peugeot wrapped up the 2024 season in sixth place in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers&rsquo; Championship.

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies reveals 2025 lineups

Qatar Airways Qatar 1812 Km 2024

To whet your appetite, the third free practice session will be broadcast live on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@FIAWEC" target="_blank">FIA WEC YouTube channel</a>. The official championship app &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://discover.fiawec.tv/" target="_blank">FIAWEC.TV</a>&nbsp;&ndash; will then bring qualifying action and the race itself to fans all over the globe. Anthony Davidson, Martin Haven and Graham Goodwin will provide expert commentary with Louise Beckett bringing the latest news from the pitlane.

Eurosport will broadcast the race throughout Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, where qualifying and the first and final two hours will be screened on Eurosport&nbsp;2.

In France, La Chaine L&rsquo;Equipe will televise the first four hours of the race and the final two hours live. The full race can also be watched on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lequipe.fr/tv/" target="_blank">L&rsquo;Equipe.fr</a>.

<a href="https://press.fiawec.com/assets/fileuploads/65/df/65df260fcca6e.pdf" target="_blank">How can I watch the action where I live?</a>

The Qatar 1812 Km starts on Saturday 2 March at 11:00 local time (UTC+3).

24H LE MANS

FIA WEC – Don’t miss a minute of the Qatar 1812 Km

Related News

The Porsche 963 adds a second 24-hour race to its list of achievements

Emotions always run high at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The power of touch at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: driver and machine in perfect synch

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies reveals 2025 lineups

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