For many sportscar teams, all roads lead to Le Mans. While it may be an overused cliche, this weekend’s Spa-Francorchamps 1000km is certainly not only being treated as a round of the European-based Le Mans Series, but also as the final warm-up to next month’s 24-hour sportscar classic in Northwest France.

A quick glance of the entry list proves the point. With 50 cars, including entries from Audi Sport Team Joest and Team Peugeot Total, Sunday’s race could be a strong indication of what to expect come June.

It’s hard to believe that the factory Audi and Peugeot squads will be facing off for the first time this year. But both head into Spa with plenty of momentum. The French Lions kicked off its season at Sebring, taking a clean sweep in Audi’s absence.

Audi has already achieved success too, with its R15 plus taking a debut win at the Le Mans Series season-opener at Paul Ricard last month, but without the presence of a factory Peugeot.

With both squads entering three cars a piece, utilizing its Le Mans driver lineups, everyone knows what the goal is this weekend, according to SPEED’s John Dagys.

“Our overriding objective is Le Mans,” says Peugeot Sport Director Olivier Quesnel. “This means that everything upstream of the French race is preparation. The danger we face at Spa is that all the teams will be there, theoretically in Le Mans trim and consequently ready.

“The message for everyone at Team Peugeot Total is clear: We have no intention of taking any risks on the track in Belgium. We do not want to jeopardize our build-up, and winning at all costs is not part of that program. Obviously, if we do win, we will be delighted, but victory is not a major concern.”

Peugeot’s assault is headed up by the car of Sebring winners Anthony Davidson, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz, which will be carrying the No. 1 badge for the first time after its victory at Le Mans last year. Nicolas Minassian, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin are in the No. 2 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP, while Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy round out the driving force in the No. 3 machine.

Audi’s three-car lineup is headed up by Paul Ricard winners Allan McNish and Dindo Capello in the No. 1 car, joined by seven-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, now fully recovered from his off-season foot injury. Newcomers Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler are in the No. 2 machine, while Mike Rockenfeller is joined by Porsche factory drivers on-loan, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, in the No. 3 entry.

“For the team the race is primarily a dress rehearsal for Le Mans – but it’s a final assessment of where we stand as well,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “There’s no circuit in the world on which you can truly simulate the Le Mans track. Still, I do believe that at Spa it’s possible to get an idea of where you stand compared with the competition.”

Audi has shown to have the speed with its latest-generation prototype, but its drivers have admitted the R15 plus still has a little bit to go before it’s a fully well-rounded car. With a successful 30-hour endurance test at Le Castellet now in the books, has the team found the all important balance? We’ll find out this weekend when Audi faces its stiffest competition yet this year.

With the addition of the factory-assisted Team ORECA Matmut Peugeot, the diesel brigade has the clear numbers advantage in LMP1. Only three other cars – Rebellion Racing’s two Judd-powered Lolas and the Signature Plus Lola-Aston Martin – will race this weekend in the class.

Other squads such as Aston Martin Racing, Beechdean-Mansell Motorsport and Team ORECA’s AIM-powered ORECA 01 prototype have all elected to focus entirely on Le Mans preparations.

After last month’s impressive come-from-behind victory by Strakka Racing, its LMP2 competitors better watch out as Sunday’s race could be a runaway. British ace Danny Watts was certainly the star of Le Castellet, as he nearly whole-handily made up a nine-lap deficit to claim class honors.

Strakka’s HPD ARX-01C, running with Wirth Research’s new low-downforce aerodynamic package, may not be as well suited to the 4.352-mile Spa-Francorchamps circuit as Paul Ricard or certainly Le Mans, but it will certainly get the job done. It will take another problem to deny them of victory this weekend.

RML’s Lola B08/80, powered by the same 3.4-liter V8 that’s in Strakka’s HPD, will likely again be the closest team to mount a challenge. OAK Racing’s two Pescarolo Judds, which showed surprising pace at Paul Ricard, could also be in the mix, as will defending class champions Quifel-ASM Team, which retired in season-opener.

In GT2, Porsche holds a clear lead in the championship after its 1-2 finish last month. Team Felbermayr Proton’s Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz will go for two-for-two on Sunday, but will again face stiff competition from other Porsches and a half-dozen Ferraris, not to mention a few dark horses from BMW and Aston Martin.

Lieb and Lietz’s sister car of Martin Ragginger, Christian Reid and American Porsche factory driver Patrick Long will be strong again, as will the Prospeed and IMSA Performance Matmut 911 GT3 RSRs.

But the Ferraris, notably AF Corse’s three-car squad, shouldn’t be counted out, either. The potent driving combo of Jamie Melo and Gimmi Bruni retired with mechanical problems at Paul Ricard and will likely be the strongest F430 GT here this weekend. The team’s No. 95 entry of Toni Vilander and GT ‘rookies’ Giancarlo Fisichella and Jean Alesi, will be strong again too, especially after their third place finish in France.

Series veteran JMW Motorsport could also surprise with its Aston Martin Vantage, while BMW Team Schnitzer proved the efficiency of its E92 M3s at Paul Ricard. The Bavarian automaker ramps up its program with a two-car attack as a warm-up to the car’s Le Mans debut.

This weekend’s race also sees a revival of sorts in the GT1 category with an impressive seven entries. But don’t let the numbers fool you; the majority of these teams are at Spa to only fulfill their minimum participation requirements in order to race at Le Mans next month.

FIA GT1 World Championship teams Young Driver AMR (Aston Martin DBR9), Matech Competition (Ford GT) and Marc VDS Racing Team (Ford GT) make their series debuts. They’re joined by defending class champion Luc Alphand Aventures (Corvette C6.R) which surfaces for the first time this season, plus a pair of Saleen S7-Rs from Atlas FX-Team FS and Larbre Competition, the French squad being the sole entrant at Paul Ricard.

And after a successful debut race, the Formula Le Mans category for the ORECA FLM09 spec prototype returns with six cars, with notable entries from DAMS, JMB Racing and Hope Polevision.

Activities at Spa kick off on Friday with practice, with qualifying on tap for Saturday. Sunday’s race gets the green flag at 11:30 a.m. local (5:30 a.m. ET) for 1000 kms or six hours of racing, whichever comes first.