FULL TEAM EFFORT SEES ALL TEAM WRT CARS REACH 24 HOURS OF SPA FINISH LINE

FULL TEAM EFFORT SEES ALL TEAM WRT CARS REACH 24 HOURS OF SPA FINISH LINE

29/06/2025

A solid team effort was delivered by the Belgian squad, as all five BMW M4 GT3 EVOs crossed the finish of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, the toughest and most prestigious GT race in the world. However, the lack of peak performance hindered the chances to fight for podium finishes. Still, there are reasons to be satisfied: the crew of car #32, Ugo de Wilde, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, leaves Spa leading the overall standings of the GT World Challenge Europe, and sits second in the Endurance Cup, only one point off the top.

The two other Pro cars, #31 of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann, finished eighth, while #46 of Kevin Magnussen, René Rast and Valentino Rossi crossed the line in 11th. In the Silver Cup, #30 of Gustav Bergström, Etienne Cheli, Pierre-Louis Chovet and Gilles Stadsbader, finished a strong fourth, while in the Gold Cup, #777 of Al Faisal Al Zubair, Jens Klingmann, Ben Tuck and Neil Verhagen secured fifth.

Team Principal Vincent Vosse commented: “It was a disappointing race for us, despite having five out of five cars finishing the race. The BMW M Motorsport teams took the best out of the resources available, but the results reflect the balance of power quite well from my perspective. It’s a shame we couldn’t fight for victory in our home race this time.”

The Belgian squad performed positively throughout the qualifying sessions, with the three Pro cars making it to the Superpole shoutout. Car #31 with Dries Vanthoor was third-fastest, but a penalty for entering the track one second too early demoted the car to the 14th spot on the grid, with car #32 in P15 and car #46 in P20. In the other classes, #777 qualified ninth in the Gold Cup and #30 13th in the Silver Cup.

The race began under perfectly blue skies and in front of a record crowd of 128,000 spectators, with the start given by Princess Louise of Belgium and her brothers, Prince Aymeric and Prince Nicolas, guests of Ugo de Wilde and Team WRT. Traffic was extremely intense in the opening laps, given the 74 cars on track, but Team WRT’s three Pro cars did a great job to stay out of trouble and kept in the top 15, not far from the front runners.

Car #31 faced an early setback with a throttle sensor problem in the second hour, causing an unforeseen pit stop. There were problems for car #30 also, Gustav Bergström was hit by a rival and sent into the gravel, which resulted in a damaged steering rod.

Shortly before the six-hour mark, thanks to solid stints from all drivers, #32 was running ninth, with cars #31 and #46 in 14th and 15th, respectively, while in their classes, #777 was seventh and #30 eighth.

Things remained stable during the relatively quiet night, and when fans woke up for breakfast, #32 had moved into seventh, with #46 12th and #31 14th. Not much would happen in the final hours, with the three Pro cars ‘dancing’ between 9th and 12th, despite an untimely “full course yellow” period further delaying the Team WRT mid-morning. The situation was even more stable for the two cars in the Gold and Silver classes, as both made it to fifth position in the early morning. A strong performance in the final hours allowed the three Pro cars to finish 7th, 8th, and 11th, with car #30 taking a final 4th in the Silver Cup and car #777 maintaining 5th in the Gold Cup.

Next up on the GT World Challenge calendar for Team WRT is the 3^rd Round of the Sprint Cup, taking place at Misano on 19–20 July. Before that, however, the FIA World Endurance Championship returns to action, with the São Paulo round scheduled on 13 July, marking another key moment in a packed period of racing.

Gilles STADSBADER, driver #30: "Happy with my race and the work of my teammates and from the crew. Unfortunately, we had a small setback early in the race which made us drop down the order. Clean race from then onwards to finish just outside the podium. There was more in it, but we have some solid points in the pocket for the championship which is what counts in the end!"

Dries VANTHOOR, driver #31:"Eighth place is not the result we came here for. Unfortunately, we had too many issues during the race that set us back. The torn-off diffuser, which we had to repair, cost us a lap. We tried everything to make up that lap, but we simply lacked the necessary luck in this race. It’s frustrating to try for so many hours and still not succeed in the end. I think we had the speed to achieve a top five result. Anything more would have been difficult anyway.”

Ugo DE WILDE, driver #32: “I think that everyone will be disappointed with the result because it was not what we aimed for. But I think we can be proud of the entire team. Everyone did the best he could, the team members, the hospitality staff, the mechanics, strategists, engineers, team managers, drivers. We all pushed for it. This time, we did not have the tools to win the race, but we did the most with what we had. And for getting the result there is always also a parameter which is called luck. Sometimes you need to be in the right place at the right time, and that wasn’t the case in this race. But I am very proud of my team and my team-mates. Everyone did an amazing job and will try to learn from the things that we can improve, we will analyse the details and try to come back stronger. We still have a championship to fight for, and we got important points for that. So, we focus on the positives.”

Valentino ROSSI, driver #46: "It’s emotional to finish such a race because it involves a lot of effort. The last 10 hours were very long. I find it more demanding than Le Mans because the track is physically more challenging. I was tired at the end, but I drove well in my last two stints. The goal was to finish in the top 10. Unfortunately, we never had the necessary pace for more, we were never fast enough. In the end, we drove a good race, and I got along very well with Kevin and René. I enjoyed it. I also learned a lot, which will make me even stronger next time."

Neil VERHAGEN, driver #777: "First, I'd like to say that it's a very impressive accomplishment by Team WRT to put five cars on the grid and have all five finish. A big ‘hats off’ and congratulations to everyone! Everyone worked extremely hard and did a fantastic job. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t the result we were hoping for. I think we realised early on that we simply didn’t have the pace to win it. On a personal note, it was a pleasure to be part of the team, to work with everyone, and to get to know them. This was my first race with WRT, hopefully not the last. A big thank you to Vincent, Andreas, Al Faisal, Jens, Ben, and everyone at WRT who made this possible. On to the next one!"