The start of the Endurance Cup season of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS could hardly have gone better from the perspective of BMW M Motorsport. The new BMW M4 GT3 EVO achieved an overall victory, a class win, and a podium finish in every category at the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard at Le Castellet. The Team WRT trio of Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde, and Kelvin van der Linde celebrated their race win on the podium. In the Silver Cup, Paradine Competition drove the #992 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to victory, while car #991 finished second in the Bronze Cup. In the Gold Cup, AlManar Racing by Team WRT secured third place.
The #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO started the race from ninth position but steadily improved throughout the race. As darkness fell and the track cooled down, the car got faster, and about 1:45 hours before the end, van der Linde took the lead which he confidently maintained until the finish. The South African celebrated his second prestigious victory with Team WRT after the Bathurst 12 Hour. It was also a particularly special triumph for Ugo de Wilde, as he managed to win right away in his debut as a BMW M works driver.
The Le Castellet race was a complete success for the BMW M Motorsport teams beyond the overall victory. Paradine Competition had double reason to celebrate. In the Silver Cup, the victory went to the #992 BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by James Kellett, Charles Clark, and Pedro Ebrahim. In the Bronze Cup, BMW M works driver Dan Harper, team owner Darren Leung (both GBR), and Sean Gelael in the #991 car finished second. In the Gold Cup, BMW M works driver Jens Klingmann, Ben Tuck, and Al Faisal Al Zubair in the #777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO from AlManar Racing by Team WRT celebrated a third-place finish.
ROWE Racing, starting from 13th place with the #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, made a strong comeback and finished the race in sixth place with drivers Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, and Raffaele Marciello. Century Motorsport finished fifth in the Silver Cup with car #42. Team WRT's car #30 and BMW Italia Ceccato Racing's car #15 retired early.
Congratulations to Team WRT on their opening victory in the GT World Challenge Europe! The drivers Charles Weerts, Kelvin van der Linde, and Ugo de Wilde can be very proud of their performances. Overall, our BMW M4 GT3 EVO made an excellent debut in this prestigious racing series.
I am thrilled; it was a fantastic race for customer racing with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. All teams and drivers did a great job at the start of the GT World Challenge. I hope it continues like this.
Again, it was great teamwork! To be able to achieve this strong result is mega. I’m super happy for Ugo who did his first race with us! It is such a nice way to start and to take off a little bit of pressure. A great job from #777 with their 3rd place in Gold Cup. A great start of the season!
Driver statements.
Charles Weerts (#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 1st place): “A very good weekend, I’m very happy! We didn’t expect it at all but it’s the kind of surprise we love to have. The team did an amazing job, our car was really nice to drive, so a big thank you to the team and to BMW M Motorsport but also my two teammates. First time we drove together, and we got a win straight away. Super proud and super happy to be driving with them. Let’s try to keep it going like we did and I’m sure we will have a successful year.”
Kelvin van der Linde (#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 1st place): “It was a very surprising win for us. After qualifying our main target was to finish in the top-five and to score points, but to be fighting for a podium and even a win was unexpected and makes it even sweeter. Big shout out to Charles, he’s been really good. I think it’s one of hist best drives. Same for Ugo that we threw in a deep end in such a competitive championship, and he did really well. He made no mistakes, and he established him well this weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing how he progresses throughout the season.”
Ugo de Wilde (#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 1st place): “Round one is done, and I can’t believe what has just happened! It’s amazing to start my journey with BMW M Motorsport with a win. It was a really educational weekend for me, it was great to finally start racing with Charles, Kelvin and Team WRT. It was not easy at the start and we were not expecting to finish on the podium. We will keep working and try to focus on Monza then on the biggest one, 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Thanks a lot to BMW M Motorsport and to WRT!”