Ex-F1 drivers, Le Mans legends and royal descendants: Names to know in WEC

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Clive Rose/Getty Images Share articleA field of 103 drivers across 35 cars will be on-track at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium this weekend for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season. WEC features a wealth of talented drivers who have enjoyed success in Formula 1, IndyCar and an array of other racing categories, making for one of the most competitive grids in global motorsport. But who are the drivers to look out for at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps? Here’s a quick rundown of the noteworthy names, some of whom will already be familiar to F1 fans. After losing his Williams F1 seat midway through the 2024 season, Sargeant didn’t immediately chase a return to full-time racing. Despite testing an Indy car, America’s most recent grand prix driver opted to go back into sports cars, a discipline he’d sampled earlier in his career when he believed his F1 hopes were fading. Sargeant joined Ford at the start of this year as one of three drivers for its new Hypercar team, which will debut in 2027 and give him the chance to fight for outright victories. For this season, he is racing in the WEC’s GT3 category with Proton Competition behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang. Alongside Italian duo Stefano Gattuso and Giammarco Levorato, Sargeant finished eighth on his WEC debut at Imola last month. He also took part in the Rolex 24 at Daytona back in January, driving an LMP2 car. Kubica was arguably the best sports car racer in the world through 2025. His victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ferrari 499P Hypercar marked a new peak in his astonishing recovery from a life-changing rally crash in 2011. Kubica lit up F1 in the late 2000s, scoring a shock win for BMW at the 2008 Canadian GP. He seemed bound for a future Ferrari drive, only to suffer severe injuries to his right arm while driving a rally car in the off-season. In the accident, he sustained a partial amputation of his right forearm and injuries that limited movement in his right hand, leading to lengthy surgeries and rehabilitation. After returning to competitive motorsport in rallying, Kubica worked toward a full-time F1 return with Williams in 2019. He then spent three years as Alfa Romeo’s reserve driver, making two stand-in race appearances in 2021, before moving into sports car racing full-time. Kubica won the LMP2 — the prototype category below Hypercar — class at Le Mans in 2023 before joining AF Corse’s privately-run Ferrari squad. At Le Mans last year, Kubica piloted the car for more than 11 of the 24 hours, including a mammoth three-hour stint to get the car to the checkered flag, with the win cementing his place in racing history. The Pole may not have reached the dizzy heights he looked bound for in F1, but WEC has given him the chance to prove his greatness. Magnussen is one of the most recognisable names in the WEC, having been a staple of the F1 grid for the best part of the last decade. Sports car racing has always been part of Magnussen’s world. His father, Jan, enjoyed a long stint as a Corvette factory driver, and they got the chance to race in the same car at Le Mans in 2021 when Kevin Magnussen dropped off the F1 grid prior to his return the following year. After losing his Haas drive for a second time at the end of 2024, Magnussen immediately shifted focus to sports cars and signed a deal to join BMW for its new Hypercar program. He recorded a best WEC race finish of fourth last year in Qatar, racing with Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor, and also appeared in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with the German marque. Lotterer has spent the bulk of his career racing at the front of the grid in the WEC. He was initially part of Audi’s dominant team, winning Le Mans outright three times in four years from 2011 to 2014 in the iconic R18 LMP1 car, as well as clinching the first WEC drivers’ title in 2012 alongside Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer. After joining Porsche for 2017, another Le Mans win looked on the cards before an issue with four hours to go forced Lotterer to park up at the side of the track and retire the car. He joined Porsche for a second time in its new Hypercar squad from 2023, leading to another drivers’ crown the following year. For 2026, Lotterer has joined the new Genesis team in Hypercar, which is the luxury brand for Hyundai. The team is run by former Renault F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul. Lotterer did also make a one-off F1 start for the backmarker Caterham team at the 2014 Belgian GP, but retired after just a single lap. He also spent six seasons racing in Formula E. If any driver is an endorsement of there being enormous success awaiting post-F1, then it is Buemi. Buemi spent three years in F1 with Red Bull’s junior team, Toro Rosso, but was dropped at the end of 2011 a few weeks after his 23rd birthday. He was immediately scooped up to join Toyota’s new WEC team, where he has raced ever since alongside a career in the all-electric Formula E series. He won the Formula E championship in 2016. Just five drivers have won Le Mans more times than Buemi, a four-time victor at the French classic. He holds the outright record for the most WEC wins (27) and shares the record for the most WEC drivers’ titles (4) with Brendon Hartley, his Toyota crew mate since 2020. Buemi, Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa made a perfect start to the new season at Imola, defeating Ferrari’s #51 car to score Toyota’s 50th WEC victory. Giovinazzi’s F1 career only lasted three seasons with Alfa Romeo from 2019 to 2021 and yielded a best race finish of fifth. But he has wasted little time in enjoying success at the highest level in WEC. Giovinazzi, a product of Ferrari’s young driver academy, was drafted into its WEC line-up for the Italian manufacturer’s Hypercar debut in 2023. He won Le Mans that year alongside James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, with the trio then going on to win last year’s drivers’ championship for the first time. Giovinazzi took pole for AF Corse on home soil at Imola last month, only for the team to lose out to Toyota in a tight strategic battle. In another timeline, Habsburg would have been the heir-apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His grandfather, Charles I, was the last emperor before being dethroned at the end of the First World War and the empire being dissolved. Habsburg has made a career in motorsport for over a decade. He raced in Formula 3 against drivers such as Lando Norris and Mick Schumacher, before moving into sports cars about five years ago. He won his class at Le Mans at the first attempt, taking the LMP2 victory and that year’s WEC category title, before becoming part of Alpine’s Hypercar line-up from 2024. The team took its first win with Habsburg, Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi at Fuji last year. “I’m so proud of my family and what they’ve done,” Habsburg told The New York Times in a 2023 interview. “But I get to live a different life.” Born in Le Mans, Bourdais has never been far away from the world of sports car racing, even if his initial trajectory led him all the way to F1. Despite dominating the American ChampCar series, winning four straight titles from 2004 to 2007, Bourdais lasted just 18 months in F1 before being dropped by Toro Rosso mid-season. Bourdais spread his racing interests across IndyCar and sports cars, initially as part of Peugeot’s factory line-up which led to three runner-up finishes at Le Mans. He later enjoyed a stint with Ford’s GT team, run by Chip Ganassi Racing, which led to a class win at Le Mans in 2016. Since 2023, he’s been part of the Cadillac Hypercar team, now operated by British outfit Jota Sport. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms