The FIA World Endurance Championship 2022 grid will be boosted to 37 cars for the second round of the championship. After missing the first round due to the safety of staff and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, GR Racing will be back on track at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, adding another entry to the LM GTE Am class.
Most classes see little to no changes on the grid as only a few teams trading out singular drivers for the Belgium round. In Hypercar, Toyota Gazoo Racing and the 1,000 Miles of Sebring-winning Alpine Elf Team retain their opening round line-ups. Only the sole Glickenhaus Racing sees a driver change with Pipo Derani replacing Ryan Briscoe to race alongside Olivier Pla and Romain Dumas.
Most changes to the second race’s line-ups come in LMP2, where three of the 45 drivers will be different from Sebring.
Alex Lynn, who had signed with United Autosports ahead of the season starting, will take his seat in the Sebring winning #23, replacing Paul di Resta alongside Oliver Jarvis and WEC’s youngest class winner/entrant Joshua Pierson. Changes also come in the #10 VECTOR Sport with 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona overall winner and 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro class winner Sebastien Bourdais taking over from Mike Rockenfeller to race with Nico Muller and Ryan Cullen.
The final change to the LMP2 entry list sees the return of Alex Brundle who was forced to miss the Sebring race after testing positive for COVID. He returns to the Inter Europol Competition after Fabio Scherer subbed in for him in America to race with Jakub Smiechowski and Esteban Gutierrez.
LMGTE Pro remains the same as it was in Sebring, with two Porsche GT Team entries, two Ferrari AF Corses and a sole Corvette Racing.
LM GTE Am is the only class that grows, getting the GR Porsche in the hands of Mike Wainwright, Riccardo Pera and Ben Barker back on the grid. The team were a saving grace for Team Project 1 who, after a big crash in the pre-season Prologue, borrowed the Porsche 911 RSR chassis from GR so they could take part in the race.
The only other Am car that sees a change in their line-up is the Porsche-running Dempsey-Proton Racing #88 where local favourite Jan Heylen will race on his home track with Patrick Lindsey and Fred Poordad.
The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps still sits over a month away, with the first on-track sessions taking place 5th May. Lights out for the race will be 12:00 BST, 7th May 2022.
