Nothing is eternal in motorsport. Everything ends. Even the strongest relationships like the one between Team WRT and Audi Sport can break. The ambition of the team led by Vincent Vosse to reach the premier class of the WEC has collided head-on with the suspension of the Audi LMDh project. Despite the loyalty of the Belgian team to signing the four rings, this situation has led Team WRT to look for another manufacturer to meet its objective. And he has found in BMW the last of his shoe.
Team WRT is one of the most successful and established endurance teams on the European scene. Founded in 2009, the formation has been a basic and permanent partner of Audi’s ‘Customer Racing’ program in GT, achieving 13 drivers’ titles in the best GT series and more than 20 subcategory titles, as well as absolute wins in the 10 Hours of Suzuka, the 12 Hours of Bathurst or the 24 Hours of Spa. At the end of this season, the link between WRT and Audi will be broken after thirteen years of success with the different versions of the Audi R8 LMS GT3.
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Rupture that leads WRT to the queen class of the WEC after signing a collaboration agreement with BMW Motorsport. In this way, Team WRT becomes part of the portfolio of teams linked to BMW and will manage the LMDh prototypes of the German brand in the World Endurance Championship from 2024. The agreement, as expected and we anticipate in Motor.es -where we have been counting this possibility since the beginning of July- will also affect the GT effort, so WRT is expected to maintain its program in the discipline with the BMW M4 GT3Although there is no official announcement about it yet.
Andreas Roosresponsible for BMW Motorport, has pointed out: «The successes and the great experience of the WRT Team are ideal ingredients for our return to Le Mans. The conversations with Vincent Voose were very positive from the beginning. We share the passion for competing in the WEC and it didn’t take long to reach a collaboration agreement. We have not yet considered the appearance of Team WRT in our GT program. We will make a decision on our program with the BMW M4 GT3 for 2023 in close collaboration with all our teams.”
For its part, Vincent Vosse as owner of Team WRT, he added: «We are very pleased to start this new partnership with BMW Motorsport. and we are honored to be associated with a brand that has such an impressive pedigree. WRT was launched thirteen years ago and has enjoyed success in GT3 and Endurance. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is in our plans and the hypercar era of the WEC that is about to open was our wish. We launched an LMP2 program two years ago, we have proven to be competitive and now we want to go one step further with a strong partner like BMW Motorsport.”
Photos: BMW Motorsport