How the new WEC driver weight rule works

What has been in the pipeline for months is finally official: an average weight per crew is being put in place for this 2025 season. Or rather the compensation ballast based on the weight of the drivers to use the terms used in the official document.

Here's how the ballast will work starting this weekend for the 1812 km of Qatar. The weight of each fully equipped driver and his seat insert will be added to that of his teammates sharing the same car. This total will then be divided by three to establish an average.

The reference is set by the document at 82 kilos, as expected. The difference between the total weight of a crew and this bar will be rounded up to the next whole number to determine the ballast to be inserted in the car. A ballast will also be put in place for qualifying depending on the driver selected by the team for this session. This additional weight is added to the Balance of Performance already communicated. This crew weight compensation ballast will also be applied in GT3, but only for the race.

Application example

Let's take a crew of three pilots whose declared minimum weights are:

• Driver 1: 77,8 kg
• Driver 2: 80,2 kg
• Driver 3: 82,9 kg

The final minimum average weight of the crew is therefore 80,3 kg. The compensation ballast is calculated by subtracting this weight from the reference weight of 82 kg: 82 – 80,3 = 1,7 kg, rounded to 2 kg.

If the BOP (Balance of Performance) imposes a car weight of 1 kg, then the minimum compensated weight of the vehicle will be 030 kg.

In Hypercar, for qualifying and Hyperpole, additional ballast is applied based on the lightest driver entered in this phase.

If only Drivers 1 and 2 participate and the BOP imposes an engine ballast (BSFC, ballast specific to the qualification to compensate for the differences between the powertrains of the manufacturers) of 5 kg, then:

• Pilot ballast in qualifications: 82 – 77,8 = 4,2 kg, rounded to 5 kg
• Compensated weight in qualifications: 1 + 030 (pilot ballast) + 5 (BSFC) = 5 kg

The official document for the driver weight compensation rule HERE

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