Spa Wednesday Notebook

***Teams spent Wednesday preparing their cars in the pits ahead of round three of the FIA World Endurance Championship season at Spa-Francorchamps, just two weeks after the last race at Portimao. The field is boosted by the addition of a second Cadillac V-Series.R, which along with Hertz Team JOTA’s Porsche 963 raises the Hypercar entry to a record 13 cars that will increase further at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

***There has been a Balance of Performance change in the GTE-Am class since the 6 Hours of Portimao, with the Aston Martin Vantage GTE receiving a 1-liter fuel capacity increase and a 0.02 bar increase in turbo boost pressure.

***As of 10 p.m. CEST on Wednesday, there was no official confirmation of whether a Hypercar platform BoP change would be made. All cars from either platform, LMH and LMDh, can be adjusted every two races and Spa is the first round where this could occur.

***Toyota Gazoo Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he was waiting to hear an update. “The regulation accounts for one possibility of platform BoP here,” he said. “I don’t know more than what the regulation says.”

***Franck Mailleux is driving for Glickenhaus this weekend. His addition to the No. 708 entry, in place of Ryan Briscoe, creates an all-French lineup for the American squad. Maximilian Goetz had initially been in the frame for a Spa seat but Jim Glickenhaus later described that as “unlikely” due to sponsorship factors.

***Mailleux was part of the Glickenhaus crew that finished third overall at Le Mans last year, alongside Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. The 37-year-old also raced with the team at Monza and Le Mans in 2021.

***All three Michelin tire specifications will be available for Hypercar teams to use at Spa. The French supplier requested the option to bring a third specification on “driver’s safety grounds” with the recent ban on tire warmers, the variety of cars in the class and the “unpredictable weather” of Spa cited as contributing factors.

***The WEC committee accepted Michelin’s request, meaning that teams can use the full spread of soft cold temperature, soft hot temperature and medium tires for this weekend only. Typically, WEC rounds outside of Le Mans carry a two-specification limit.

***A hydrogen-powered prototype from the ACO-supported Mission H24 project will complete demonstration laps on Saturday before the race. The car will be the first-generation LMPH2G, while the newer H24 which has completed Michelin Le Mans Cup races will be on static display.

***ACO President Pierre Fillon will drive the LMP2HG in the demonstration, accompanied by Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps CEO Amaury Bertholome. Fillon said: “At a time when the Hypercar class is coming into its own, endurance also needs to work on reducing emissions. With MissionH24, we are exploring the hydrogen option. The laboratory project has already convinced several carmakers.”

***A new grandstand overlooking the endurance pit straight at Spa will be inaugurated in a ceremony on Thursday. It is the latest installment of the Belgian circuit’s extensive renovation project, which includes a large grandstand at Raidillon that opened last year.

***A Toyota GR010 Hybrid was publicly displayed on the banks of the Rhine River in central Cologne last Saturday. A Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo was also present, along with the Japanese manufacturer’s WEC and Le Mans winners’ trophies, as well as this year’s Le Mans centenary trophy. Toyota’s European sports car racing arm is based in Cologne.

***Five-time Le Mans driver Marco Apicella was present in the paddock on Wednesday. The Italian, who started one Formula 1 Grand Prix with Jordan in 1993, currently works for helmet manufacturer Stilo.

***Nicolas Lapierre was also on-site, hanging around with Alpine Elf Team personnel as well as former Toyota co-driver Sebastien Buemi. The Frenchman is absent from driving duties in the championship this year, combining testing work for Alpine’s LMDh program with his role as Cool Racing team principal and European Le Mans Series driver.

***Daniil Kvyat celebrated his 29th birthday in the Prema garage on Wednesday afternoon. The newly minted Lamborghini factory driver, set for his first racing appearance at Spa since the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix, was smashed in the face with cake by co-driver Doriane Pin.

***Peugeot technical director Olivier Jansonnie reckons it is “difficult to tell” how strong the French manufacturer will be at Spa, which it hasn’t visited before with its LMH program. “The track profile itself is actually quite good for us,” said Jansonnie. “It’s a complicated track to handle when you haven’t been there before. A lot of corners are actually quite difficult.”

***With The Heart of Racing’s appearance at Spa, Ian James is now set for back-to-back appearances on the Belgian circuit with races on two consecutive weekends. He will contest the Hankook 12H Francorchamps in the team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. “Next week I’m here with the Creventic race – I wish it was the other way around,” James jokingly told Sportscar365. “The last time I was here was 25 years ago and it’s changed a little bit since then.”

***James and his team are planning to go testing at Monza after their debut WEC outing in order to prepare for Le Mans, with the Briton stating the team has “scheduled to do a couple of days” at the Italian venue.

***Renger van der Zande’s appearance in the second Cadillac marks his first run in the WEC’s top category since the 2018-19 season when he raced a BR Engineering BR1 Gibson with DragonSpeed. “It was a different game when we did it with the DragonSpeed LMP1 car, where it was one big hustle and doing laps was already something. Now we’re here ready to try and win it. It’s a whole different game.”

***The Dutchman added that Thursday’s opening Free Practice session will be a “shakedown” for the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R as the car has not run on a racetrack before. The chassis previously served as a test mule for wind tunnel homologation.

***Track action for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps begins on Thursday, with a pair of 90-minute Free Practice sessions. The first is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET) and the second begins at 4:20 p.m. (10:20 a.m. ET).

Davey Euwema contributed to this report