STRONG POINTS FOR REIGNING CHAMPIONS AND PODIUM IN SILVER CLASS AT PAUL RICARD

Last Saturday, Team WRT kicked off its GT World Challenge Europe campaign at Circuit Paul Ricard, fielding three BMW M4 GT3 EVO for the six-hour enduro. The Belgian squad secured a podium in the
Silver class, while the two Pro entries crossed the line in P4 (#32) and P12 (#46) overall.

In Pro class, the reigning Overall Champions Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, now joined by new teammate Jordan Pepper, started from P10 overall and worked their way steadily into the leading group throughout the race. The overall podium was just out of reach in the end, but crossing the line in P4 but still means valuable championship points. On the #46, the new trio of Valentino Rossi, Dan Harper and Max Hesse lined up from P11 and were having a solid race until a 30-second time penalty for an alleged blue flag infringement mid-race
effectively ended any hopes of a points finish.

The highlight of the day came from the Silver class, where the fresh trio of Amaury Cordeel, Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont delivered a superb performance. Making their GT3 debut, "Nacho"and Amaury put in an impressive drive with their teammate Matisse throughout the six hours, coming from P11 in class and missing the class victory by just 0.782 seconds to claim second place. The chemistry between the two Belgians and their Argentinian teammate clicked straight away, and the podium on their first outing together is a great sign for the season ahead.

Behind the scenes, the weekend was a logistical puzzle. The WEC LMGT3 cars arrived from Bierset midweekend, and the moment the race ended, part of the crew was already packing up to head to Imola.
Four truckies took the road shortly after the finish to join the GT WEC crew who was already on the Italian ground waiting to set up. Indeed, the revised WEC calendar, with Qatar pushed back to October
and the Official Prologue added ahead of Imola, made the logistics particularly challenging.

Attention now turns to the FIA World Endurance Championship. It will be a particularly busy weekend, as the US crew will simultaneously be in action in Long Beach for the third round of the IMSA season and its first Sprint race. Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde will therefore be Stateside this weekend, missing the WEC season opener at Imola.

Vincent Vosse, Team Principal: "I think we got the maximum out of this race. Fourth overall and third in the Pro Cup mean valuable points for car #32. Unfortunately, car #46 received a penalty. I’m very happy about the podium for our #30. Now we will analyse everything, work hard, and come back stronger in the next races!"