The eight manufacturers vying for Hypercar glory in World Endurance Championship

The 2025 World Endurance Champion began last week with the Qatar 1812km, featuring a packed grid of 36 cars - including 18 in the premier Hypercar class.

The introduction of LMH and LMDh regulations in 2021 has taken the WEC to new heights, with manufacturers flooding to enter the series in the last few years. The convergence of rules with the IMSA SportsCar Championship has also played a big role in increasing manufacturer participation, as manufacturers can now take part in two top-level championships with the same car.

Here is a look at the eight manufacturers entered for the WEC’s Hypercar category, plus those looking to join the series in the coming years.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is the newest entrant in the Hypercar class and last week’s Qatar round marked the debut of its new Valkyrie AMR-LMH. Based on the track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro model and powered by a mighty 6.5-litre V12 engine, it is the first prototype racer built by Aston Martin since the ill-fated AMR-One.

Aston Martin was expected to be present for the inception of the Hypercar class but its original project with the Valkyrie was paused and then effectively shut down in the wake of Lawrence Stroll buying the British manufacturer and bringing its name to Formula 1. It wasn’t until late 2023 that the project was revived, with Heart of Racing and Multimatic playing a major role in getting the car up and running.

Aston will be present in both the WEC and IMSA this year and, in fact, will become the first manufacturer to race with an LMH car (as opposed to LMDh) in the latter series. Its driver line-up in the WEC is led by long-time Multimatic racer Harry Tincknell and Marco Sorensen.

Porsche

Porsche started the 2025 WEC as one of the favourites, having won the drivers’ championship last year following victories at Losail, Spa and Fuji. The 963 LMDh has gone through various updates since its introduction in 2023, including two usages of the so-called evo jokers, and is now a reliable and fast car that can work on a wide variety of tracks.

Porsche has revamped its line-up for 2025 and is fielding only two drivers in each car for the majority of the six-hour races. Moreover, Julien Andlauer has been promoted from Proton Competition to the #5 factory Penske car alongside Michael Christensen. Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor pilot the #6 entry, with Matt Campbell joining the duo in longer races.

The Qatar round was a huge disappointment for the German manufacturer, not helped by the Balance of the Performance changes, as it failed to make it to Q2 and scored a best finish of 10th in the race itself.

But the 963 is expected to bounce back as the series heads to Europe in April.

Toyota

Toyota has been a mainstay of the WEC since the series’ inception in 2012 and has the oldest-running LMH car of any manufacturer, introduced in 2021.

Toyota is yet to be beaten in the manufacturers’ championship since the advent of the Hypercar class, which automatically makes it a strong contender for this year’s fight.

Operationally, Toyota has the strongest race team of any manufacturer, and its strategic calls have often helped it to win races when its car is not the fastest on the grid.

It also enjoys driver continuity, having retained all six drivers from 2024.

Cadillac

Cadillac has revamped its WEC programme in 2025, with Jota Sport replacing Chip Ganassi as its factory partner.

Jota built a name for itself in the LMP2 class and ventured into the Hypercar class in 2022 by running the Porsche 963 on a customer basis. It scored an outright win at Spa last year, beating the factory Porsches in the process.

Cadillac’s V-Series.R is designed around a Dallara LMP2 car and draws power from a bespoke 5.5-litre V8 motor.

While the General Motors brand has enjoyed a lot of success in IMSA with the same LMDh car, its WEC tenure so far has yielded just one podium, achieved at Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023. Its first outing with Jota in Qatar also ended in disaster, as Jenson Button and Alex Lynn crashed at the end of a safety car period while running in first and second positions.

However, things should get better for Cadillac as the year wears on, especially as it is now represented by two cars in the category.

BMW

For BMW, 2025 marks its second season in Hypercar but third overall with the M V8 Hybrid that made its debut in an IMSA-only programme in 2022.

BMW found the going tough in both IMSA and WEC initially, but a clear uptrend in performance was visible from the last part of 2024, as it followed up its podium in the 6 Hours of Fuji with a victory in the Indianapolis Battle of the Bricks.

The German brand has since taken advantage of the evo jokers allowed under regulations to fix the issues with the car’s braking system in 2025.

This was followed by BMW qualifying the car on the front row in the Qatar opener and finishing fourth in the race.

On the driver front, the WRT-run squad has signed Kevin Magnussen to partner Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor in 2025. Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde continue to drive the #20 LMDh.

Alpine

The Alpine A424 LMDh is currently in its second season in the WEC, although Renault’s sportscar brand previously competed in Hypercar between 2021-22 with a grandfathered version of an LMP1 car.

Alpine enjoyed a strong debut season, scoring a maiden podium at Fuji, but its Le Mans outing was cut short after just six hours due to a technical issue with its Mecachrome. It used evo jokers over the winter to bring a sizeable update to the engine and the turbocharger, which should boost its reliability in 2025.

Alpine has also hired former Porsche star Frederic Makowiecki and slotted him in its #36 entry alongside Mick Schumacher and Jules Gounon, who has stepped up to a full-time seat. The sister #35 car is crewed by Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin.

The French manufacturer endured a race to forget in Qatar, finishing in 13th and 14th positions.

Ferrari

Ferrari is entering its third season in the Hypercar category with the 499P.

Ferrari’s LMH prototype has proved to be both quick and reliable and the Italian brand would have likely been a more serious contender for the championship in 2024 had it not lost a victory at Imola due to strategic errors and another likely win at Spa due to an ill-timed red flag.

The Prancing Horse is one of the outright favourites for 2025, with a 1-2-3 result in the Losail race 1812km only raising expectations for the new season.

It already has two wins out from two attempts at the Le Mans, although its factory team hadn’t won a regular WEC race until Qatar at the end of last month.

Ferrari also has another ace up its sleeves, as its factory partner AF Corse fields a third 499P on a customer basis, bringing in valuable track data.

Peugeot

Peugeot has struggled for results since it joined the WEC for the first time in the middle of the 2022 season.

The radical concept of the 9X8 didn’t yield the desired results and Peugeot was forced to revamp the car over the winter of 2023 in order to bring it in line with a more traditional LMH car.

This included the addition of a rear wing and, although the performance has improved, results have still been hard to come.

Peugeot introduced further updates to the car coming into 2025 and finished inside the points in Qatar.

A pair of third places - at Monza 2023 and Qatar 2024 - remain the best finishes for the French manufacturer in Hypercar.

More entries on the horizon

Hyundai’s premium brand Genesis will join the WEC in 2026 with an LMDh car based on a Dallara chassis and powered by a twin-turbo V8 engine.

Ford will also be gunning for outright victory at Le Mans from 2027 with an LMDh prototype, while McLaren is expected to announce its own plans to return to prototype racing at this year’s La Sarthe race. Both Ford and McLaren are currently present in the WEC’s LMGT3 class with the Mustang and the 720S Evo respectively.