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 (FRA).
The Team WRT trio of Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde (both BEL), and Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) 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 (AUS). 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 (both GBR), and Pedro Ebrahim (BRA).
In the Bronze Cup, BMW M works driver Dan Harper, team owner Darren Leung (both GBR), and Sean Gelael (INA) in the #991 car finished second. In the Gold Cup, BMW M works driver Jens Klingmann (GER), Ben Tuck (GBR), and Al Faisal Al Zubair (OMA) 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 (BRA), Jesse Krohn (FIN), and Raffaele Marciello (SUI). 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.
Comments after the race.
Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport): “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. Ugo de Wilde won his first race as a BMW M works driver right away – that’s fantastic! Overall, our BMW M4 GT3 EVO made an excellent debut in this prestigious racing series. Many thanks to everyone involved at BMW M Motorsport and the teams that made these successes possible! We celebrated the overall win and a class victory, and stood on the podium with a crew in every class. Congratulations to Paradine Competition and AlManar Racing by Team WRT. Our record in Le Castellet is truly impressive.”
Björn Lellmann (Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport): “I am thrilled; it was a fantastic race for customer racing with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. This morning in qualifying, it didn’t look like we would be going home with a podium in almost all classes. Jens Klingmann fought for the win in the Gold category until the end, and Darren Leung’s team can be proud of their victory in the Silver class and second place in the Bronze category. All teams and drivers did a great job at the start of the GT World Challenge. I hope it continues like this.”
Vincent Vosse (WRT Team Principal): “Again, it was great teamwork! For a bit of history, we haven’t won here since 2012 and we’ve been close a few times but always a bit unlucky. 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. I’m of course very sorry for car #30, those things happen in racing. Until then they were doing quite well. A great job from #777 with their 3rd place in Gold Cup. A great start of the season!”
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!”
Augusto Farfus (#98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 6th place): “We had literally everything in this race. All kinds of possible things did not go our way but in the end we brought it home despite the issues that we had which was good. But for BMW M Motorsport it was an incredible weekend. The wins and podium finishes show how strong the EVO car is and we have enough reason to celebrate.”
Jens Klingmann (#777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, AlManar Racing by Team WRT, 3rd place Gold Cup): “Super happy to kick off the season with a podium. I think the top-ten overall with our Gold Cup car is an amazing result. We didn’t have the pace in the end to fight for more even though we were so close to P2, but P1 was out of reach. I think we can be proud and happy with what we achieved tonight. We executed everything very well. The harmony in the team and in our driver crew is really good. I can’t wait for the rest of the season.”
Darren Leung (Team Principal and driver Paradine Competition): “First race for our Silver car and the first time we were running two cars, so I am extremely happy that the first result is a class win. I am very proud of everyone involved. Unfortunately for the 991 we had three full course yellows that helped our competitors otherwise we could have won that, too. All in all todays results I think are a very good sign for the season to come.”
Dan Harper (#991 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Paradine Competition, 2nd place Bronze Cup): “It was a challenging weekend from the start. We lacked a bit of pace at the beginning of the weekend. However, in the end, we had a brilliant race, securing a podium finish. We came close to a victory, but the full course yellow periods played in favour of our competitors. That’s how it goes sometimes, but considering our practice sessions and qualifying performance, we can be very pleased with this podium result. Thank you to the whole Paradine team, they did a great job.”
