Team WRT has announced that it will conclude its 13-year partnership with Audi and will, from 2024, campaign the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The team, founded in 2009 and based in Baudour, Belgium, is the creation of former racing driver Vincent Vosse and businessman Yves Weerts. The team currently runs programmes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Team WRT announced on social media that its 13-season-long partnership with Audi will conclude at the end of the 2022 season. The team has been racing with Audi since its inception in 2010.
Team Principal Vincent Vosse expressed his gratitude to Audi in the post.
“It is a very special and emotional moment for all of us at Team WRT and me personally, as we announced that a significant chapter of the history of our organisation will soon come to an end and a new one will open,” said Vincent Vosse.
“It couldn’t be otherwise as Audi has been a brand we have been associated with since the creation of Team WRT at the end of 2009 and our sole partner in GT3 racing.”
Team WRT announced shortly after that it will be campaigning the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2024.
BMW had recently announced that it will return to the premier class of international prototype racing with its new M Hybrid V8 LMDh and will be contesting the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2023. The new car will be campaigned in the North American series by BMW M Team RLL, the team owned and run by Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan. BMW M Team RLL will also be competing in the new GTD-PRO class with the BMW M4 GT3.
For the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Munich marque have turned to one of the world’s most successful GT racing teams. Since 2021 however, the team has developed its capabilities in prototype racing, winning the LMP2 category of the 2021 European Le Mans Series with drivers Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Ye Yifei. For 2022, the team graduated to the FIA World Endurance Championship with a two-car entry, winning at Spa with Robin Frijns, Sean Gelael and René Rast sharing the driving duties.
Team WRT will be using the 2023 season to prepare the cars before they appear on the WEC grid in 2024 after an agreement was reached between BMW CEO Franciscus van Meel, Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos, Team WRT Team Principal Vincent Vosse and CEO of Weerts Group Pascal Weerts.
“All of us at Team WRT are extremely happy with the start of this new partnership with BMW M Motorsport and feel honoured to be associated with a brand that has such an awesome pedigree in motor racing,” said Vincent Vosse.
