WRT BMW Wins Paul Ricard Opener

Photo: BMW

Team WRT came out victorious in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup opener at Paul Ricard, delivering a second consecutive win for BMW at the French circuit.

Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde and Kelvin van der Linde took the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to victory with a margin of 4.353 seconds over the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

In the process, it delivered a second straight Paul Ricard victory for BMW after ROWE Racing came out on top during last year’s three-hour season opener at the Le Castellet venue.

WRT, for its part, picked up its first Endurance Cup victory since it took a 1-2 finish at Monza last year, while it ended an overall Paul Ricard win drought in GTWC Europe that dated back to 2012.

After starting the race in ninth, Weerts brought the No. 32 machine into contention for victory by charging up to second place approaching the halfway mark.

That allowed debuting BMW factory driver De Wilde to rejoin behind the leading No. 96 Porsche of Alessio Picariello.

De Wilde then proceeded to chip away at his compatriot, bringing the gap down to under a second by the time he pitted to hand over to Van der Linde for the closing phase.

The South African subsequently grabbed the lead from the newly installed Patric Niederhauser with a move out of Virage du Pint with an hour and 45 minutes left on the clock.

After that, Van der Linde went on to stretch a comfortable leading margin to secure another victory in what has proven to be a successful start to the season for the Vincent Vosse-led squad.

The team previously won the Hankook 24H Dubai as well as the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour. De Wilde, meanwhile, secured victory upon his first appearance as a BMW factory driver.

Niederhauser, Picariello and Sven Mueller finished second, while the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche of Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Ayhancan Guven completed the overall podium.

Winward Racing’s No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo finished fourth in the hands of Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Matteo Cairoli, with the overall top five rounded out by the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

CSA Racing picked up the Gold Cup class win with sixth overall for Arthur Rougier, Simon Gachet and James Kell.

While CSA ultimately claimed the class win on its McLaren debut, Garage 59 appeared on course for that honor thanks to a commanding early performance from the No. 58 McLaren.

Dean MacDonald led the race overall in the early stage, with both Louis Prette and Adam Smalley maintaining a firm presence in the overall top five until the car stopped at pit exit with just under two hours remaining.

All three of Garage 59’s McLarens hit trouble across the course of the race, with its Pro-entered No. 59 seeing its competitive run curtailed by issues within the first ten minutes.

ROWE Racing’s sole BMW crossed the line in seventh, while Walkenhorst Motorsport ensured both of Aston Martin’s Pro entries also finished in the top ten with eighth for David Pittard, Christian Krognes and Henrique Chaves. h

Verstappen dot com Racing picked up ninth overall with its No. 33 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo for Thierry Vermeulen, Chris Lulham and Harry King, while Al Manar Racing by Team WRT’s No. 777 BMW completed the overall top ten.

Silver Cup honors went to the No. 992 Paradine Competition BMW of James Kellett, Pedro Ebrahim and Charles Clark, while Kessel Racing’s No. 74 Ferrari 296 GT3 won Bronze Cup driven by Dustin Blattner, Conrad Laursen and Dennis Marschall.