Samwise Sportscar & Endurance Newsletter
Sunday, May 10, 2026
BMW M Team WRT Claims Maiden WEC Hypercar Win with Historic 1–2 at Spa
BMW M Team WRT claimed its maiden World Endurance Championship Hypercar victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday. The No. 20 crew of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, starting 10th, vaulted to the lead after Rast took a short fuel load at the close of the opening hour. A safety car in the fourth hour realigned the field; Frijns then controlled the restart and took the flag by 1.969 seconds. Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor completed an historic BMW 1–2 in the No. 15 car, with Ferrari’s No. 50 of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen third, 2.622 seconds back.
Sources: Motorsport.com
BMW Leads WEC Championship After Spa 1–2; Toyota and Ferrari in Close Pursuit
BMW has surged to the top of the 2026 WEC standings following its 1–2 at Spa. Collecting 43 race points across both cars, BMW leads the Manufacturers’ standings with 59 points. Toyota, winner at Imola, sits seven points behind on 52, with Ferrari third on 42. In the Drivers’ standings, René Rast and Robin Frijns lead jointly on 35 points after Spa, ahead of Toyota’s Brendon Hartley, Ryō Hirakawa and Sébastien Buemi on 26. Only 12 points separate the top six driver crews. Aston Martin and Alpine are level on 14 points in the Manufacturers’ battle as the championship heads to Le Mans.
Sources: Pit Debrief
Garage 59 McLaren Claims LMGT3 Honours at Spa After Ferrari Penalty
Garage 59 earned LMGT3 honours at Spa-Francorchamps after the leading No. 21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari received a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit release in the final 20 minutes, dropping it behind the No. 10 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Antares Au, Marvin Kirchhöfer and Thomas Fleming. Heart of Racing’s No. 27 Aston Martin finished second, and The Bend Manthey’s No. 92 Porsche was third. The result gave Garage 59 its first 2026 victory after mechanical failure cost the team a likely win at Imola. The Bend Manthey retains the LMGT3 championship lead with 30 points, four clear of Garage 59.
Sources: Pit Debrief
How BMW’s Short-Fuel Gamble at Hour One Decided the 6 Hours of Spa
BMW M Team WRT’s Spa victory rested on a single decision made early in the opening hour: fitting a short fuel load on the No. 20 car to generate an off-sequence pit cycle. René Rast vaulted ahead of the conventional-strategy runners, building a gap in clean air before handing to Sheldon van der Linde and then Robin Frijns. When a safety car in the fourth hour realigned the field, BMW was at the front rather than recovering through traffic. The squad described the call as a calculated response to starting 10th on a 17-car Hypercar grid, where an undercut was the only viable route to overall victory from that position.
Sources: Pit Debrief
Jakobsen Secures Peugeot’s Maiden WEC Pole at Spa Before Race-Day Retirement
Malthe Jakobsen secured Peugeot’s maiden WEC pole in the Hyperpole shootout at Spa, beating Will Stevens’ Cadillac by 0.043 seconds after recovering from a high-speed spin on his out-lap. Sharing the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 with Loïc Duval and Théo Pourchaire, Jakobsen led through the opening stint before the car was eliminated in the fourth hour when the No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG made contact at Les Combes. The sister No. 93 Peugeot of Nick Cassidy, Paul di Resta and Stoffel Vandoorne finished seventh, collecting 6 manufacturers’ points from a weekend that had briefly promised a genuine podium challenge.
Sources: Motorsport.com
Genesis Magma Racing Scores First WEC Championship Points With 8th at Spa
Genesis Magma Racing scored its first WEC championship points at Spa-Francorchamps, where the No. 17 GMR-001 of Felipe Derani, Mathys Jaubert and André Lotterer finished eighth in the team’s second Hypercar start. The South Korean luxury brand’s LMDh prototype earned 4 Drivers’ points from the result, lifting Genesis to 6 points in the Manufacturers’ standings. Consistent execution through three safety car periods allowed the No. 17 crew to circulate cleanly and avoid the incidents that stopped rivals. The sister No. 19 of Daniel Juncadella, Mathieu Jaminet and Paul-Loup Chatin retired with eight laps remaining after running inside the top 13 for most of the race.
Sources: Pit Debrief
Ford Confirms Discussions with Verstappen Over Future WEC Hypercar Drive
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing president Mark Rushbrook has confirmed discussions with Max Verstappen about a future WEC Hypercar drive, though no programme is finalised. Ford enters the Hypercar category in 2027, building its LMDh in conjunction with the Multimatic-led Red Bull partnership. Rushbrook told media that Verstappen’s Formula 1 schedule—he is contracted at Red Bull through 2028—and Le Mans’ calendar position complicate any arrangement. Any outing would be a future one-off rather than a full-season commitment. BMW Spa winner Robin Frijns separately noted that Verstappen racing Hypercars within “a few years” would not surprise him given the champion’s stated interest in endurance events.
Sources: RACER
Aston Martin Valkyrie Claims Career-Best WEC Result With 4th at Spa
Aston Martin THOR Team’s No. 007 Valkyrie LMH of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble finished fourth at Spa-Francorchamps, 5.004 seconds behind the winner, in one of the car’s strongest performances since its WEC debut. The LMH prototype ran cleanly through three safety car periods that disrupted rivals, and Gamble completed a pass on the No. 7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi with four minutes remaining to secure the position. The result lifted Aston Martin to fourth in the Manufacturers’ standings on 14 points, level with Alpine, ahead of Peugeot, Cadillac and Genesis. The No. 009 Valkyrie of Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen retired with 15 laps remaining from 14th position.
Sources: Pit Debrief
WEC Hypercar — Drivers
1. BMW #20 (René Rast / Robin Frijns) — 35 pts
2. Toyota #8 (Brendon Hartley / Ryō Hirakawa / Sébastien Buemi) — 26 pts
3. BMW #20 (Sheldon van der Linde) — 25 pts
4. Toyota #7 (Kamui Kobayashi / Mike Conway / Nyck de Vries) — 25 pts
5. BMW #15 (Kevin Magnussen / Raffaele Marciello) — 24 pts
6. Ferrari #50 (Antonio Fuoco / Miguel Molina / Nicklas Nielsen) — 23 pts
7. Ferrari #51 (Alessandro Pier Guidi / Antonio Giovinazzi / James Calado) — 19 pts
8. BMW #15 (Dries Vanthoor) — 18 pts
9. Aston Martin #007 (Harry Tincknell / Tom Gamble) — 14 pts
10. Alpine #35 (António Félix da Costa / Charles Milesi / Ferdinand Habsburg) — 12 pts
WEC Hypercar — Manufacturers
1. BMW — 59 pts
2. Toyota — 52 pts
3. Ferrari — 42 pts
4. Aston Martin — 14 pts
5. Alpine — 14 pts
6. Peugeot — 9 pts
7. Cadillac — 8 pts
8. Genesis — 6 pts
IMSA GTP — Drivers (after Laguna Seca)
1. Laurin Heinrich / Tijmen van der Helm — 1,396 pts
2. Jack Aitken / Earl Bamber / Sébastien Bourdais — 1,375 pts
3. Felipe Nasr / Julien Andlauer — 1,250 pts
4. Kevin Estre / Laurens Vanthoor / Matt Campbell — 1,230 pts
Partial standings. Full standings: imsa.com
IMSA GTP — Teams
See full standings at imsa.com/weathertech/standings
Curated by JD · samwise.agency