It’s what everyone’s been waiting for! The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship begins at the Losail International Circuit for no less than 10 hours of epic racing. And as always, I’m here to take you through it all!

Five minutes into the hour, Iron Lynx’s #61 Mercedes spun and went into the barriers courtesy of Christian Reid. It brought out a full course yellow, right as the #50 Ferrari was pitting causing it to lose a position to the #83. Cadillac also inherited the lead from Ferrari as Earl Bamber had stayed out longer than their rivals, putting them in prime position to benefit massively.

It appears though I may have jinxed everything because after the full course yellow ended JOTA had nothing short of a calamity. On the restart with a 1-2 lead Jenson Button and Alex Lynn were involved in controversial contact that ruined their restart and gave both substantial damage. It meant their chance at victory imploded, and the #12 car got a drive through penalty for the incident and the huge hit from the sister car saw the #38 car eventually pit to try and fix their own damage.

Ferrari then retook the lead, now running 1-2-3 with #50 ahead of #51 and #83 in third. Lexus meanwhile held their lead in LMGT3. Iron Lynx’s day got even worse. Already the #60 had suffered crash damage and now the #61 was brought in by Claudio Schiavoni. It would re-emerge 12 laps down, do another couple of laps and then re-enter the pits in a terrible afternoon for the italian team.

More contact beckoned, as Dries Vanthoor slammed into one of the race’s biggest contenders – the #50 Ferrari was spun, losing substantial time to its competitors.

Pit Stops then came for Hypercar, with Toyota now running 3rd and 4th and the #83 Ferrari assuming the race lead. Meanwhile Porsche’s #5 car sits fifth despite being on an alternate strategy due to a puncture earlier in the race. 

The theme of contact continued as the next victim was the #35 Alpine. It was Charles Milesi who tried to make it 4-wide to get past traffic, but ultimately got caught up with the Iron Dames Porsche and barely avoided a pileup. Milesi dropped down 13th and off the lead lap. A full course yellow was called to clear the debris. The #20 BMW was inches from being involved in the carnage, safe to say if it was a cat it would be down to eight lives.

Hypercar is in the hands of the #83 Ferrari ahead of the sister car #50, while #51 is down scurrying around the lower points places following a drive through penalty. Toyota incredibly are running 3rd and 4th in a generational turnaround in pace compared to where I thought they would be after qualifying. In LMGT3, the lead is now in the hands of a charging Ben Tuck in his Proton Ford while the #78 Lexus runs second. Mclaren have fallen back somewhat, with their cars 3rd and 4th in class. Francesco Castelacci’s AF Corse Ferrari runs behind them, with Heart of Racing’s LMGT3 Aston running well in sixth.

The sun may be setting in Qatar, but the action is only hotting up. But who will the moon choose to shine its light upon as we plunge deeper into the race? Stay tuned.