W Racing Team
Teams' Championships | 30 (last 2023 Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams) |
---|---|
Drivers' Championships | 29 (last 2023 Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers) |
W Racing Team (known as Team WRT) is a
Racing history
2010–11: Beginning and early success
Upon the team's founding in late 2009, WRT purchased three
Following their first year's success, WRT expanded their program for 2011 by adding the
2012–18: Further expansion with Audi
WRT announced further expansion of their program in 2012 with accepted entries in the
In 2014 WRT competed both in the
In 2016, WRT made their debut in Touring car racing, running pair of Volkswagen Golfs in the TCR International Series under the Leopard Racing badge. Driving for the team were Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay. WRT also made their debut in the European Le Mans Series running a Ligier JS P2, but only at the 4 Hours of Spa. They won the TCR International Series Drivers' titles in both 2016 and 2017, with Comini and Vernay respectively. In 2018 and 2019 WRT participated in the World Touring Car Cup fielding a pair of Audi RS3 LMSs.
2019–20: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
In 2018 WRT won the Bathurst 12 hour race with the Audi R8 LMS (GT3), at their first attempt. On 12 October 2018 WRT announced it would run a pair of Audi RS5 Turbo DTMs in the 2019 DTM season as a customer team.[4] They later announced Jonathan Aberdein and Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of double Formula One World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi, as their two drivers for the season. Although not scoring a single podium, Aberdein was able to impress with several points scoring positions and finished the season in 10th place as the highest ranked rookie. In August 2019 WRT won the 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours, which was the 48th edition of the Summer Endurance Classic at Suzuka.
At the end of 2019, WRT announced an all new line-up for the
2021–23: LMP2 Program
After exiting the DTM, WRT announced their intention to enter the LMP2 class in the
Team WRT decided to enter both cars at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. After taking the lead during the first half of the race WRT was on course to score a sensational 1-2 finish on its Le Mans debut. However, at the start of the last lap car #41 driven by Yifei Ye came to a stop due to a technical fault and was unable to make the finish, giving the win to the sister car #31 who crossed the finish line just over 7 tenths in front of the chasing Oreca 07 from Tom Blomqvist.[7]
Adding to their Le Mans victory, Team WRT ended the 2021 season winning both the Drivers' and Teams' titles in the
On 15 January 2023 WRT won the Dubai 24 Hour for the third time after having previously won the 2016 and 2022 editions. This marked WRT's first outing with BMW and immediately resulted in the BMW M4 GT3's first major 24 hour race victory. In February WRT also contested the first two rounds of the 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge at Bathurst and Kyalami. WRT scored a 1-2 win at the Kyalami 9 Hours. In the FIA World Endurance Championship WRT once again entered two Oreca 07s in the LMP2 class. At the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans WRT's #41 car finished second only 20s behind the winner, which was enough to give the #41 car driven by Robert Kubica, Louis Delétraz and Rui Andrade the lead in the championship. The trio went on to claim the 2023 FIA WEC LMP2 championship rounding of the season with 3 wins and 6 podiums in 7 races. WRT ended the LMP2 era in WEC with 10 race victories in 19 races and two championship wins in three seasons.
2024–present: Hypercar with BMW
While never officially announced WRT had been chosen by Audi to run their LMDh program in the 2023 FIA WEC Hypercar class. However, days before the first rollout of the car Audi decided to stop the program, officially stating it was putting it on hold.[9] As a result WRT started looking to other options to enter the Hypercar class in the WEC series. On 2 August 2022 WRT announced it would terminate their 13 years long partnership in GT racing with Audi Sport. Hours later BMW Motorsport announced that Team WRT would run their factory LMDh program in the FIA WEC. WRT will start extensive testing of the BMW M Hybrid V8 in 2023 before entering the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.[10] In addition to the Hypercar program WRT will also switch to BMW machinery for their GT3 efforts. The team confirmed that they would enter several BMW M4 GT3's starting from 2023. On November 27 2023 the 2024 FIA WEC entry list was revealed confirming that WRT would enter a total of four cars. Two BMW M Hybrid V8's in the Hypercar class that will compete for the overall wins as well as two BMW M4 GT3's competing in the newly formed LMGT3 class.[11] For their first season in Hypercar the #15 BMW will be driven by long time WRT driver Dries Vanthoor, two times DTM champion Marco Wittmann and Raffaele Marciello coming over from Mercedes. The #20 car will be shared by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and René Rast. In the LMGT3 the #31 will be driven by Indonesian driver Sean Gelael swithcing from LMP2, Augusto Farfus and Darren Leung. On the #46 car Valentino Rossi will be lining up with his regular teammate Maxime Martin and Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy.
Results & Achievements
Notable Victories
- Overall Winner - 2011 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
- Overall Winner - 2011 24 Hours of Zolder
- Overall Winner - 2012 24 Hours of Zolder
- Overall Winner - 2013 Baku World Challenge
- Overall Winner - 2014 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
- Overall Winner - 2014 Baku World Challenge
- Overall Winner - 2015 24 Hours of Nürburgring
- Overall Winner - 2015 12 Hours of Sepang
- Overall Winner - 2016 24 Hours of Dubai
- Overall Winner - 2016 FIA GT World Cup
- Overall Winner - 2018 12 Hours of Bathurst
- Overall Winner - 2019 10 Hours of Suzuka
- LMP2 Winner - 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans
- Overall Winner - 2022 24 Hours of Dubai
- Overall Winner - 2023 24 Hours of Dubai
- Overall Winner - 2023 9 Hours of Kyalami
- Overall Winner - 2023 8 Hours of Indianapolis
Main Championship titles
- GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
- GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup
- Overall Teams’ Champion in
- Overall Drivers’ Champion in
- GT World Challenge Europe
- Andros Trophy
- European Le Mans Series
- FIA World Endurance Championship
24 Hours of Le Mans
Year | Entrant | No. | Car | Drivers | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Team WRT | 31 | Oreca 07-Gibson | Robin Frijns Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi |
LMP2
|
363 | 6th | 1st |
41 | Louis Delétraz Robert Kubica Yifei Ye |
362 | NC | NC | ||||
2022 | Team WRT | 31 | Oreca 07-Gibson | Rene Rast
|
LMP2
|
285 | DNF | DNF |
32 | Mirko Bortolotti Rolf Ineichen Dries Vanthoor |
366 | 15th | 11th | ||||
RealTeam by WRT | 41 | Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato |
362 | 21st | 17th | |||
2023 | Team WRT | 31 | Oreca 07-Gibson | Robin Frijns Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg |
LMP2
|
327 | 13th | 5th |
41 | Rui Andrade Louis Delétraz Robert Kubica |
328 | 10th | 2nd |
FIA World Endurance Championship
* Season still in progress
European Le Mans Series
Year | Entrant | Class | No | Chassis | Engine | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pos. | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Team WRT | LMP2 | 47 | Ligier JS P2 | Judd HK 3.6 L V8 | Will Stevens Dries Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor |
SIL |
IMO |
RBR |
LEC |
SPA 2 |
EST |
11th | 18 |
2021 | Team WRT | LMP2 | 41 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2L V8 | Louis Delétraz Robert Kubica Yifei Ye |
CAT 1 |
RBR 1 |
LEC 5 |
MNZ 4 |
SPA 1 |
ALG 2 |
1st | 118 |
Bathurst 12 Hours results
Year | Team | Drivers | Car | Car# | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Audi Sport Team WRT | Robin Frijns Stuart Leonard Dries Vanthoor |
Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 37 | GT3 - APP | 271 | 1st | 1st |
Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda Paul Dalla Lana Will Davison |
39 | GT3 - APA | 267 | 14th | 8th | |||
2023 | Team WRT | Sheldon van der Linde Charles Weerts Dries Vanthoor |
BMW M4 GT3 | 32 | Pro | 323 | 4th | 4th |
Maxime Martin Valentino Rossi Augusto Farfus |
46 | Pro | 322 | 6th | 6th | |||
2024 | Team WRT | Sheldon van der Linde Charles Weerts Dries Vanthoor |
BMW M4 GT3 | 32 | Pro | 120 | DNF | DNF |
Maxime Martin Valentino Rossi Raffaele Marciello |
46 | Pro | 275 | 5th | 5th |
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
Year | Car | No | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | Points | TC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM | 27 | Jonathan Aberdein | HOC1 1 15 |
HOC1 2 12 |
ZOL 1 Ret |
ZOL 2 12 |
MIS 1 8 |
MIS 2 7 |
NOR 1 13 |
NOR 2 14 |
ASS 1 6 |
ASS 2 4 |
BRH 1 9 |
BRH 2 13 |
LAU 1 14 |
LAU 2 7 |
NÜR 1 4 |
NÜR 2 5 |
HOC2 1 14 |
HOC2 2 Ret |
10th | 67 | 7th | 79 |
21 | Pietro Fittipaldi | HOC1 1 10 |
HOC1 2 15 |
ZOL 1 14 |
ZOL 2 9 |
MIS 1 11 |
MIS 2 5 |
NOR 1 Ret |
NOR 2 15 |
ASS 1 11 |
ASS 2 10 |
BRH 1 DNS |
BRH 2 16 |
LAU 1 7 |
LAU 2 9 |
NÜR 1 15 |
NÜR 2 13 |
HOC2 1 15 |
HOC2 2 15 |
15th | 22 | ||||
34 | Andrea Dovizioso | HOC1 1 |
HOC1 2 |
ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
MIS 1 12 |
MIS 2 15 |
NOR 1 |
NOR 2 |
ASS 1 |
ASS 2 |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
LAU 1 |
LAU 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
HOC2 1 |
HOC2 2 |
NC | 0 | ||||
2020 | Audi RS5 Turbo DTM | 10 | Harrison Newey | SPA 1 13 |
SPA 2 Ret |
LAU1 1 10 |
LAU1 2 12 |
LAU2 1 15 |
LAU2 2 13 |
ASS 1 12 |
ASS 2 15 |
NÜR1 1 14 |
NÜR1 2 13 |
NÜR2 1 11 |
NÜR2 2 11 |
ZOL1 1 5 |
ZOL1 1 6 |
ZOL2 1 7 |
ZOL2 1 9 |
HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 13 |
14th | 27 | 7th | 103 |
13 | Fabio Scherer | SPA 1 12 |
SPA 2 12 |
LAU1 1 14 |
LAU1 2 11 |
LAU2 1 11 |
LAU2 2 13 |
ASS 1 15 |
ASS 2 Ret |
NÜR1 1 15 |
NÜR1 2 16† |
NÜR2 1 Ret |
NÜR2 2 14 |
ZOL1 1 13 |
ZOL1 1 5 |
ZOL2 1 5 |
ZOL2 1 Ret |
HOC 1 13† |
HOC 2 12 |
16th | 20 | ||||
62 | Ferdinand Habsburg
|
SPA 1 DNS |
SPA 2 15 |
LAU1 1 6 |
LAU1 2 10 |
LAU2 1 11 |
LAU2 2 14 |
ASS 1 8 |
ASS 2 7 |
NÜR1 1 11 |
NÜR1 2 15 |
NÜR2 1 7 |
NÜR2 2 62 |
ZOL1 1 7 |
ZOL1 1 7 |
ZOL2 1 32 |
ZOL2 1 101 |
HOC 1 11 |
HOC 2 14 |
10th | 68 |
References
- ^ SRO Group. 2011-07-31. Archived from the originalon 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- SRO Group. 2011-03-17. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- SRO Group. 2011-07-30. Archived from the originalon 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- ^ "WRT becomes Audi customer team in the DTM". DTM.com. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "A NEW EXCITING CHALLENGE FOR TEAM WRT, AS IT ENTERS THE FIA WEC AND THE LE MANS 24H IN LMP2". w-racingteam.com. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
- ^ "ROBERT KUBICA TO JOIN TEAM WRT IN ELMS PROGRAMME". w-racingteam.com. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
- FIA WEC. 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
- ^ "TEAM WRT TAKES ONE MORE TITLE AND RACE WIN (IN THE SILVER CUP) IN FINAL RACE WITH AUDI". w-racingteam.com. 2 October 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ^ "Audi LMDh Program Paused Amid Uncertain Future". sportscar365.com. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ "Top-quality reinforcements for BMW M Motorsport: Team WRT competing with the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the WEC from 2024". bmw-motorsport.com. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ "TEAM WRT SET FOR 2024 FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH BMW M QUARTET". w-racingteam.com. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.