A beginner’s guide to WEC: Classes, phrases and more
Endurance racing isn’t just about speed; it’s about resilience, teamwork, and racing the clock as much as your competitors. If you’re new to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), welcome to one of the most demanding, thrilling, and strategic motorsport series in the world.
Whether you’re following the Iron Dames’ full season across the globe or just tuning in for the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans, here’s everything you need to get up to speed.
What is the World Endurance Championship?
The World Endurance Championship is the pinnacle of sports car endurance racing. It’s a global series that pushes both cars and drivers to their absolute limits across a mix of six, eight, 10 and 24-hour races.
Its unique fusion of cutting-edge automotive technology, multi-class competition, and stories of human determination makes WEC one of the most popular motorsport championships on the planet in 2025, attracting a host of prominent manufacturers and drivers.
The WEC race format
Unlike Formula 1, where races last around 90 minutes, WEC events are all about long-distance competition. The season includes a mix of race durations:
• Qatar 1812km (10-hour limit)
• 6 Hours of Imola
• 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
• 24 Hours of Le Mans
• 6 Hours of São Paulo
• Lone Star Le Mans (6 hours)
• 6 Hours of Fuji
• 8 Hours of Bahrain
Each team rotates between two to three drivers per car. While one driver is behind the wheel, the others rest and prepare for their next stint.
In this series, driver changes, pit strategies and car reliability are just as important as lap times.
The 2025 WEC classes
WEC races feature multiple classes of cars competing on track at the same time. Here’s how they break down for 2025:
Hypercar
Hypercar is the top class in WEC. These are the fastest and most advanced cars on the grid featuring manufacturers such as Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota and Peugeot.
LMGT3
A category introduced in 2024, this class replaced the outgoing GTE cars. LMGT3 uses cars that look much closer to what you’d see on the road, but their enhanced aerodynamics, finely tuned engines and refined components tell a different story.
Among the models racing in LMGT3 is the Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R, alongside many others from the likes of Lamborghini and Ferrari.
The 2025 Iron Dames WEC LMGT3 line-up is the only all-female line-up in the series this season.
Key WEC phrases
• Stint: A continuous period of time a driver spends on track before heading for the pits. Double and triple stints are often utilised to extend a driver’s time in the car before they hand over to a team-mate.
• Full Course Yellow (FCY): A caution period where all cars must slow to 80 km/h, similar to F1’s Virtual Safety Car.
• Balance of Performance (BoP): This is a system designed to level the playing field between different cars and manufacturers. Certain handicaps are given out to ensure the field is on as level a playing field as possible.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the crown jewel of endurance racing. Held annually in France since 1923, it’s the oldest and most prestigious race in the world.
Winning at Le Mans is a career-defining achievement and for many drivers, a lifelong ambition. The Iron Dames have come close to finishing on the podium several times at Le Mans, but reliability among other things has denied them that chance.
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