BMW M TEAM WRT CLAIMS ITS 80TH TITLE IN PORTIMÃO AND PODIUM IN FIA WEC WITH BMW M4 GT3 EVO #69 IN BARCELONA

BMW M Team WRT's double header came to an end this weekend, with the GT World Challenge Europe season finale in Portimão and the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Barcelona. Portimão delivered the team's 80th international title, as Team WRT was crowned GT World Challenge Europe Overall Teams' Champion, while the #30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO crew added a silver class win and P5 overall. In Barcelona, the LMGT3 #69 crew gave the team a podium with third place by 0.256 seconds, while the weekend ended on a difficult note in Hypercar, where BMW's championship title hopes came to an end.
 
Amaury Cordeel, Matisse Lismont, and Ignacio Montenegro started from class pole and went on to win the Silver Cup in a dramatic three-hour race, finishing fifth overall. The crew had already secured every Silver Cup Teams' and Drivers' title across the Sprint, Endurance and Overall standings. This win was the one Endurance Cup victory still missing from their season, and a fitting way to close it out.
 
It was a tougher weekend for the Pro crews. The #32 of Jordan Pepper, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts started from P13 as the fastest BMW on the grid and ran sixth after the opening phase. A drive-through penalty for contact left them with ground to make up. They fought back for points position, but a late puncture after being hit by a rival ended their hopes of a strong result, ultimately finishing P30.
 
Having lost its qualifying times to track limit infringements, the #46 of Max Hesse, Valentino Rossi and Neil Verhagen lined up P59 on the grid. A puncture on the second lap then sent the car down to last place; but the crew fought its way back to P14 before a mechanical issue forced it to retire.
 
A first visit to Barcelona for the World Endurance Championship brought a difficult penultimate round for the Hypercar crews. Pace was a struggle all week and both BMWs started deep in the field. From P16, the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 fought its way up to fifth with some strong stints, but lost pace again late on and finished P7.
 
The #20 started P14 and even ran second for a time, before a black and orange flag for a tyre pressure infringement brought a penalty and ended its hopes of points, finishing P14. Heading into the season finale at Monza, Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello sit third in the drivers’ championship, while Robin Frijns and René Rast are level on points in fourth. Meanwhile, BMW M Motorsport remains second in the manufacturers’ standings, carrying a 24-point lead over its nearest challenger into the final round.
 
On the LMGT3 side, the circuit is not the best fit for the BMW M4 GT3 EVO either. The #69 of Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper started from P15 after a difficult qualifying, but the race told a very different story. Great stints from all three drivers and a smart strategy kept the crew in the fight. Dan then brought the car home, managing tyre pressures and energy through a tense final lap to take third place, just 0.256 seconds ahead of the #34 Corvette. It was a third podium of the WEC season for the #69 trio.
 
The #32 of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung had a different weekend. They qualified P8 despite the extra weight from their Fuji win, and climbed to the front in the race. Several penalties then ended their hopes of a second strong weekend in a row, and the car crossed the line P12.
 
BMW M Team WRT will look to end its World Endurance Championship finale on a high in Monza on 8 November. The Belgian team will then head to Macau on 19–22 November, where Kelvin van der Linde and Raffaele Marciello will compete in the FIA GT World Cup, bringing a long and demanding racing season to a close.