This year’s season-opener will be the tenth edition of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The 7km circuit has produced some great on track action since that first race in 2012 and here are some facts and figures.

• Endurance racing at Spa-Francorchamps can be traced back to the mid1920s when the Spa 24 Hours race was first run. In 1966, Spa formed a round of the World Sportscar Championship as a 1000km race but was discontinued in 1975. The circuit was shortened to alleviate safety concerns and the 1000km race returned in 1982. Since 2012, Spa has been a regular stop on the FIA WEC calendar.
   
• At 7.004km in length, Spa is the second longest circuit on the FIA WEC calendar after Le Mans. It is comprised of 19 corners and has the highest elevation of any race track of the season, with over 100 metres between the lowest and highest sections.
   
• Toyota Gazoo Racing won in 2018 and 2019 with the #8 TS050 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso securing both victories on their way to the 2018/19 FIA World Championship title. The Japanese Manufacturer also won in 2017, with Buemi and Nakajima sharing the #8 TS050 with Anthony Davidson, and in 2020 with the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez.
   
• With three victories, G-Drive Racing hold the record for the number of LMP2 wins at the Belgian circuit.
   
• In LMGTE Pro Ferrari have won four times (2013, ‘14, ‘16 and ‘17), Aston Martin twice (2015, 2019), Porsche twice (2012, 2020) and Ford once (2018).

• Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda won the LMGTE Am class at Spa for four years in a row, in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
   
• 2014 FIA World Endurance Drivers Champion Anthony Davidson has won in two classes at Spa. He won in his championship year in the LMP1 class Toyota TS040-Hybrid and again in 2017 in the TS050. In 2019 Davidson won in LMP2 in the #21 DragonSpeed Oreca 07-Gibson.
   
• The 2020 winning car completed 143 laps; the race distance was 1001.57km. The longest race distance was in 2015 - 1232.69km / 176 laps.
   
• Despite the snow in 2019 and mixed conditions in 2020, the previous two #6hSpa have featured just a single retirement combined. The car was Signatech Alpine’s #36 entry, which brought an end to its record 36-race finishing streak. The French squad steps up to Hypercar for 2021.
   
• Toyota claimed their 21st outright pole position at #6hSpa in 2019. It was a new outright record for the most in LMP1, breaking Porsche’s previous record of 20 which had been reached in 2017. This time out the reigning champions will look to achieve the maiden pole position of the Hypercar era.
   
• 297 entrants have combined to race for 293,152km at #6hSpa since 2012 – the highest total at any circuit outside of #LeMans24, for an average of 987km completed per entrant.

• All nine LMP2 podiums at #6hSpa have featured a unique order of teams. 2021 entrants Jota Sport, G-Drive Racing, DragonSpeed, United Autosports, Racing Team Nederland have all previously visited the podium in Belgium.
   
• #6hSpa 2021 is the 67th #WEC race. The first visit to Belgium in 2012 staged the first win for a car wearing the number 67 – when IMSA Performance Matmut achieved the second GTE Am win for Porsche.
   
• #6hSpa is one of two circuits where GTE Pro ever-presents AF Corse has achieved 10+ podiums. The team has finished in the top three 10 times, on seven occasions, and includes 4 victories (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)
   
• #6hSpa 2018 saw Toyota score their 42nd and 43rd podium spots – matching Porsche’s overall tally of 43 with the 919 Hybrid. The gap splitting the #8 and #7, just 1.444 seconds, remains the 4th-closest outright green-flag finish in #WEC history.
   
• 35 cars are on the #6hSpa 2021 entry list, the joint second-most entrants to a 6-hour race, behind only the 40 starters in Belgium in 2012. The Belgian flag appears three times on the list, next to FIA WEC LMP2 debutants Team WRT, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Alessio Picariello.