W Racing Team

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
W Racing Team s. a.
legal form Société Anonyme
founding 2009
Seat Baudour , Belgium
management René Verbist
Vincent Vosse
Yves Weerts
Branch Motorsport
Website W Racing Team

The W Racing Team (or WRT for short ) is a Belgian motorsport team founded in 2009 that is active in various GT3 series; including the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup, the Intercontinental GT Challenge and the then still existing FIA GT1 World Championship . The team’s greatest motorsport success is winning the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race in 2011 and 2014, winning the Nürburgring 24-hour race in 2015 and winning the FIA ​​GT World Cup in Macau 2016.

history

The W Racing Team's Audi R8 LMS for the 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series.
Audi R8 LMS from WRT in 2011.

The W Racing Team was founded in September 2009 by the former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist , the racing driver Vincent Vosse and the entrepreneur Yves Weerts . Team leader is Pierre Dieudonne.
WRT is the official Belgian motorsport importer for Audi. Due to this close connection to the Volkswagen group , the team is supported by the Belgian Audi Club and the Belgian Volkswagen Club. WRT uses Audi R8 LMS of specification GT3 and Volkswagen Scirocco GT24.

In 2010, WRT regularly fielded its GT3 vehicles in the Belgian Belcar Endurance Championship and the French GT Championship Championnat de France FFSA GT. The team also started the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps with three Audi R8 LMS . In the Belcar Endurance Championship, Gregory Franchi and Anthony Kumpen achieved two victories and the driver pairing François Verbist , Bert Longin and Bill Bailly achieved another victory. Franchi and Kumpen won the drivers' championship, while the W Racing Team won the team championship.
The Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 were used in the Belgian Touring Car Series .

In 2011, WRT regularly took part in the FIA GT3 European Championship , the Blancpain Endurance Series , the French GT Championship (GT Tour) and the Belgian Belcar Series. The team had the greatest success in the Blancpain Endurance Series, as Greg Franchi won the drivers' championship in the professional category and WRT also won the team championship in this category. In addition, the team with Franchi and the two Audi factory drivers Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekström won the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race.
With the driver pairings Bert Longin and Xavier Maassen as well as Enzo Ide and François Verbist, WRT took second and third place in the driver standings of the Belcar series. In the GT3 European Championship , Enzo Ide took third place in the drivers' championship with three race wins; the team finished sixth in the team ranking. In the French GT championship, David Hallyday and Stéphane Ortelli scored a victory in Dijon-Prenois and became runner-up champions.

In 2012, WRT fielded two vehicles in the Blancpain Endurance Series . The team also represented the Audi brand in the FIA GT1 World Championship . Team co-owner Yves Weerts completed a guest start in the GT3 European Championship at the Circuito de Navarra together with Kurt Mollekens .

In 2015 they became an Audi Sport GT3 works team and, together with Phoenix Racing, put four Audi R8 LMS in individual races of the VLN, Blancpain Endurance Series and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring and the 24-hour race at Spa Francorchamps.

In 2016, WRT made its touring car comeback in the TCR International Series ; they sat Volkswagen Golf TCR one, all golf TCR were run with sponsorship of Leopard Racing. In addition, WRT made its prototype debut in the European Le Mans Series with the Ligier JSP2 , you only drove in the 4 hours from the Spa.

In 2017, WRT will field four Audi R8 LMS in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and five in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup.

In 2019, WRT will compete in the DTM as a customer team with two Audi RS 5 DTMs . Jonathan Aberdein and Pietro Fittipaldi were signed as drivers .

successes

2010

2011

2012

2013

  • Third in the Spa Francorchamps 24-hour race.
  • First of the GT3 Pro Cup in the Blancpain Sprint Series.

2014

  • Winner of the Spa Francorchamps 24-hour race.
  • Winner of the GT3 Pro Cup in the Blancpain Endurance Series.
  • Winner of the GT3 Pro Cup and the GT3 Silver Cup in the Blancpain Sprint Series.

2015

2016

  • Winner of the FIA ​​GT World Cup

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g "Team" ( Memento from August 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (w-racingteam.com on September 4, 2012)
  2. ↑ a b "Team Biography: Belgian Audi Club Team WRT" ( Memento from November 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (media.gt1europe.com on September 4, 2012)
  3. ↑ Dominant First Win For Audi at Spa . July 31, 2011. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Points Chart: 2011 " (gt3europe.com on September 4, 2012)
  5. ↑ Revamped 2012 season plans take shape . July 30, 2011. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved on September 4, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Driver Biography: Yves Weerts " (gt3europe.com on September 4, 2012)

Web links