Team WRT's three BMW M4 GT3 EVO PRO lineups

SRO

Jun 27

The CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is the highlight of the GT World Challenge Europe season, and also a very special home race for Team WRT, who had three BMW M4 GT3 EVO participating to the Superpole, with stellar line-ups that will go for top honours, in the overall ranking. The objective for the team is to conquer a third success and the first one since its association with BMW.

Team WRT leading GT World Challenge Europe

The CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is also the third round of the GT World Challenge Europe’s Endurance Cup, and the one with the most weight in terms of points awarded. Team WRT arrives in Spa as the standings leader in the overall and Endurance Cup standings, both in Pro, with Ugo de Wilde, Kelvin van der Linde, and Charles Weerts, who won the Paul Ricard 6 Hours that opened the season with #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. The young trio ended Superpole in P16 and shall start from 8th row.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO

Charles Weerts admits: “The 24 Hours of Spa is my home race, as it takes place very close to where I grew up and live. And this means sharing it with family and friends. It was the first race I attended when I was a child, and the dream to race it and win it started there. Today, I measure how big and difficult it is, but the dream is still there, and after having been second in 2021 and third last year, there is only one trophy I miss…. Ahead of this year’s edition, I am confident as we have a very good car, which has evolved in the right direction, a great team, and a great line-up. This has been a year of changes for me, with new teammates and a new engineer, but it’s working beautifully, as proven by the results and the win at the Paul Ricard. We are leading the championship and it will be important to keep this in mind, but if we manage a good race, minimising mistakes and penalties, we can score heavy points, despite there being so many good cars, teams, and drivers in the competition. Winning the Endurance Cup is important to me because after taking the Sprint Cup three times and the Intercontinental Championship title, that would mean having succeeded in the three championships I have contested so far.”

Ugo de Wilde has a quite similar story: “Although I raced the 24 Hours last year for the first time, I am very affectionate to this race, as I have attended many editions with my family since a very early age. I am now in Pro, in a new environment, but I must say that adjusting to Team WRT and my teammates has been very easy, everyone has been so supportive and it is such a great team to work with. I am confident ahead of the race and don’t want to stress too much. We get to Spa leading the standings and this, not only the race result in itself, will be important. It’s great to be receiving the support of the royal visit, and hopefully, this too will be an additional boost.”

Representing BMW in the Coupe du Roi

The three WRT cars entered in the Pro class will be representing BMW in the Coupe du Roi, the centenary prestigious trophy that awards the best-performing brand.

Leaders in the overall and Endurance Cup standings, both in Pro, Ugo de Wilde, Kelvin van der Linde, and Charles Weerts are driving #32 BMW M4 GTE EVO.

Additionally, the Belgian squad is fielding two BMW M4 GT3 EVO’s for heavy-weight line-ups:

Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann are at the wheel of car #31. Dries Vanthoor in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo ended third the Superpole but is under investigation for a potential breach of Superpole procedure.
#46 is in the hands of Kevin Magnussen, René Rast and Valentino Rossi, with the Danish former F1 star making his debut in the race. The #46 was 18th of Superpole and will start from ninth row.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Left: #31 BMW M4 GTE EVO; center: #32 BMW M4 GTE EVO; right: #46 BMW M4 GTE EVO.

Of the three, Dries Vanthoor, the most experienced Belgian driver at Team WRT, is maybe the one having a cooler view of Spa: “I always look forward to the 24 Hours, it is my home race and the biggest endurance race in GT3 racing, but I try to take it as any other race. 2025 will be another running of it and another ‘big one’ in terms of competition level, I see no difference. I have been privileged and happy to win some big races already, but this one is missing, and it will be great to add it to my CV, but it is not a thought that makes me lose my sleep. I have raced Spa 24 nine times and being part of it is already an honour.” Source: Team WRT

Team WRT in Gold and Silver Cups

Team WRT is also standings leader in the Gold Cup, with Al Faisal Al Zubair, Jens Klingmann and Ben Tuck, in the car sporting the colours of Al Manar Racing by WRT with #777.

The regular Team WRT representation also includes the #30 car in the Silver Cup, entrusted to Gustav Bergström, Etienne Cheli, and Gilles Stadsbader.

The Belgian squad welcomes two exciting additions to their 24 Hours of Spa entries. Multiple GT race winner Pierre-Louis Chovet will join #30’s all-Silver line up, as BMW M works driver, Neil Verhagen, brings his M4 expertise to the #777 AlManar Racing crew.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Left: Al Manar Racing by WRT with #777; right: BMW M works #30’s all-Silver line up.

Team WRT Principal Vincent Vosse explains the squad’s mood ahead of the ‘big one’: “No rest for our team, the two biggest 24-hour events are basically back-to-back, but we hope this is the only analogy! Spa is always one of the season’s biggest challenges, but we try to avoid putting more pressure on ourselves than the event already entails. We know the race, we have won it in the past and we want to win it again. We have a great car in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, five magic driver line-ups, and a determined team. We know it will be a hard and closely-fought race, because of the level of the field, and it is useless to speculate in advance. At the end of the day, like in any other endurance race, it will take having a great package, a faultless race, and doing the right thing at the right moment at the right place.”