BELGIAN TEAM WRT WINS TWICE IN ITALY

It was a strong weekend for Belgian motorsport in Italy. Team WRT, the belgian squad based in Grâce-Hollogne, won both GT World Challenge Europe Sprint races at Misano with Belgian driver Charles Weerts and South-African Kelvin van der Linde in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, taking the team to the top of the championship standings. For Aubel-based Charles Weerts, it was a landmark result too: the 25-year-old driver scored his 20^th victory in the Sprint Cup, making him the series' most successful driver ever.

20/07/2026

"It has been a great weekend here after a pretty difficult season so far, so I am really happy to finally score some big points," said Weerts. Behind that result was a team performance as much as a driving one. In Sprint racing, the pit stop (changing tyres and drivers in one go) can decide a race outright, and it's an exercise Team WRT's crew has built a reputation for, with multiple Pit Stop Challenge titles to their name. It showed again on Sunday: van der Linde was running second when the crew fired off a stop quicker than their rivals, sending the #32 straight to the lead and Weerts on to a clean win."Sunday's win came down to the team. The crew made the difference in the box. I'm really happy and thankful to them. We are definitely pleased. Let's keep it up like this," Weerts added.

The Belgian success didn't stop there: Leuven driver Matisse Lismont took victory and another podium in the Silver category, sharing the BMW #30 with Argentinian teammate Ignacio Montenegro, making them move to the top of the Silver Cup standings in Sprint, Endurance and Combined."It was a very strong weekend! We didn't have the easiest week, but we put everything together. I'm very happy with our job, Nacho and I, and also the strong performance of the team, such as their strong pit stops. We are well leading the standings so let's keep the momentum going in Magny-Cours," said Lismont.

Another Belgian had a strong weekend. Amaury Cordeel, from Temse, still new to GT racing after a career in single-seaters, shared the #31 with BMW M Works driver Jordan Pepper (South African) and twice ran inside the top ten. The duo finished seventh on Saturday, fifth on Sunday before a penalty dropped the pair to tenth place. Solid points for only Cordeel's second weekend in Sprint racing, and his fifth weekend in GT racing ever.

The #32, #30 and #31 weren't the only ones to benefit from the Belgian team's strong work all weekend. Valentino Rossi, the nine-time MotoGP champion, took his first-ever GT pole position in front of his home crowd on Saturday, capping another successful weekend for Belgian Team Principal Vincent Vosse and Team WRT.

"It's a great way to spend a race weekend! One pole position, two overall wins and two podiums in class," said Team Principal Vincent Vosse. "We are extending our winning streak at Misano to nine consecutive seasons thanks to faultless races from our Pro car #32, and as always, strong pit stops from our crews. We also gave Vale his first pole position. We're leaving Misano with a lot of points and the lead in the Sprint championship, so it was a very good weekend. Let's build on this gap in Magny-Cours in two weeks."