GOLD VICTORY FOR ALMANAR RACING BY WRT AT NÜRBURGRING

Nürburgring, Germany - August 31st, 2025 -Team WRT returned to Endurance Cup action this weekend for the fourth and penultimate round of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe season. The Belgian squad fielded three cars, one in each of the Pro, Silver, and Gold categories, and came away with victory in the Gold Cup class thanks to the #777, while the #32 Pro entry endured a tough race marred by misfortune and lack of pace. Meanwhile, the #30, with newcomer Matisse Lismont, delivered a clean race in the Silver class.

August 31, 2025

RACE HIGHLIGHTS

#777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Gold Cup - AlManar Racing by WRT)
Al Faisal Al Zubair, Ben Tuck, and Jens Klingmann delivered a clean run in the Gold Cup class. After qualifying P2 in class and running up front throughout the race, the crew crossed the line P2, maintaining their position despite a Full Course Yellow period that came at an unlucky time. But a post-race penalty for the #33 Aston Martin offers the win to the #777 trio.

#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Pro Class - Team WRT)
After initially claiming Pole Position, the Pro entry of Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde, and Kelvin van der Linde started from P6 after being handed a five-place grid penalty following an incident during qualifying. A difficult race followed: the car lacked pace, and a Full Course Yellow just after a pit stop dropped them from fifth to out of points contention. The crew eventually finished P10 overall. The result sees the car lose the lead in the GT World Challenge Overall and Endurance Cup standings.

#30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Silver Cup - Team WRT)
Etienne Cheli, Gilles Stadsbader, and newcomer Matisse Lismont (replacing Gustav Bergström) ran a steady and clean race. Despite a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release, the trio stayed out of trouble and brought the car home P6 in a very competitive Silver class.

LOOKING AHEAD

September will be one of the busiest months of the season for Team WRT. The team heads straight to Austin next week for the FIA World Endurance Championship Lone Star Le Mans, where four BMWs will compete, two Hypercars and two LMGT3s.

The global tour continues with the Suzuka 10 Hours, part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, before returning to Europe for the Sprint Cup finale in Valencia on September 20-21, where Team WRT will fight to retain its current lead in the Sprint Cup Team and Driver championships.

The month will then close with another FIA WEC event, the 6 Hours of Fuji, followed shortly after by the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finale in Barcelona, a crucial showdown in the race for the GT World Challenge titles.

QUALIFYING RESULTS RACE RESULTS

FIGURES

Number of cars on the grid: 61 (17 Pro, 10 Gold, 18 Silver, 16 Bronze)
Manufacturers: 10
Number of WRT cars: 3 (#30 in Silver, #32 in Pro, #777 In Gold)
86 laps in total for winner

FACTS

Qualifying 1:

Car #30: P18 overall, P5 in class (Etienne Cheli)

Car #32: P3 overall, P3 in class (Kelvin van der Linde)

Car #777: P24 overall, P5 in class (Jens Klingmann)

Qualifying 2:

Car #30: P21overall, P5 in class (Gilles Stadsbader)

Car #32: P2 overall, P2 in class (Charles Weerts)

Car #777: P6 overall, P2 in class (Ben Tuck)

Qualifying 3:

Car #30: P47 overall, P14 in class (Matisse Lismont)

Car #32: P10 overall, P6 in class (Ugo de Wilde)

Car #777: P21 overall, P7 in class (Al Faisal Al Zubair)

Combined Qualifying:

Car #30: P26 overall, P5 in class

Car #32: P6 overall, P5 in class

Car #777: P9 overall, P2 in class

Starting drivers:

#30: Gilles Stadsbader

#32: Charles Weerts

#777: Al Faisal Al Zubair

Race – 1^st hour:

Clean start from all cars

SC - car stopped on track

#777 Driver change to Tuck

#32 Driver change to de Wilde

#30 Driver change to Lismont

End of 1^st hour: #32 in P7, #777 in P13 (P2 in class), #30 in P28 (P7 in class)

Race – 2^nd hour:

#30 10-sec time penalty for unsafe release

#32 Driver change to van der Linde

#777 Driver change to Klingmann

FCY – car in gravel

#30 Driver change to Cheli

End of 2nd hour: #32 in P12, #777 in P15 (P2 in class), #30 in P27 (P7 in class)

Race - 3rd hour:

SC – (same) car in gravel

End of 3rd hour: #32 in P11, #777 in P13 (P2 in class), #30 in P13 (P6 in class)

RACE RESULTS

OVERALL

1/ Farfus - Krohn – Marciello (BMW M4 GT3 EVO) 86 laps

2/ Auer - Cairoli - Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO) + 4.468s

3/ Müller - Niederhauser - Picariello (Porsche 911 GT3 R) + 16.398s

4/ Bachler - Guven – Heinrich (Porsche 911 GT3 R) + 22.705s

5/ Drouet - Maini - Mardenborough (Ford Mustang GT3) + 24.187s

10/ de Wilde - van der Linde - Weerts (BMW M4 GT3 EVO) + 34.194s

GOLD

1/ Al Zubair - Klingmann - Tuck (BMW M4 GT3 EVO) 86 laps

2/ Gachet - Kell - Rougier (McLaren 720S GT3 EVO) + 9.651s

3/ King - Lulham - Vermeulen (Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO) + 10.000s

4/ Ineichen - Heinemann – Sturm (Porsche 911 GT3 R) + 23.645s

5/ Barr - Buncombe – Foster (McLaren 720S GT3 EVO) + 25.625s

SILVER

1/ Cabirou - Gazeau – Panis (Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO) 86 laps

2/ Fleming - Oliveira - Ramos(McLaren 720S GT3 EVO) + 7.489s

3/ Jansen - Moore - Waberski (BMW M4 GT3 EVO) + 7.723s

4/ Andriolo - Schumacher – Wiebelhaus (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2) + 8.138s

5/ Clark – Ebrahim – Kellet (BMW M4 GT3 EVO) + 13.476s

6/ Cheli – Lismont - Stadsbader (BMW M4 GT3 EVO) + 21.605s 

Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal Team WRT: “It was an up-and-down weekend, with some very positive moments but also plenty of frustration. Losing pole is tough to accept, especially since it has been a few years since we last claimed one in the Endurance Cup. Charles had a great start and made strong progress, but then we struggled with pace throughout the race. We didn’t give our drivers the best tools to fight with, and although Kelvin pushed hard to bring home points, we faced the same issues and had to settle for P10.We were also unlucky with strategy, pitting just one lap before the FCY, a wrong timing that dropped us from P5 to P14. On the positive side, that’s a well-deserved win for the #777 crew, which extends their championship lead in the Team overall standing. The #30 car had a solid run too, despite a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release. I want to congratulate Matisse for his first race with us and in the BMW, as well as ROWE for their well-deserved victory! Let’s keep our heads up and focus on the next races and the busy month ahead!”

Matisse LISMONT, driver #30: “Good weekend overall for our #30 car. It was my first time in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and my first time with Team WRT but also a double race weekend as I was racing at the 24H of Zolder as well. Quite a heavy weekend! I managed to still find some good pace during the race. I could have optimised qualifying, but I’ll get better in the next races. Overall, super happy with how this weekend went! Thanks, team!”

Charles WEERTS, driver #32: “It was a very difficult weekend for us. We started on the back foot but managed to do a really good job to get things back on track, even taking pole position. Unfortunately, we received a grid penalty for the incident with the Mercedes. In my opinion, he crossed my line, but it is what it is. Even from sixth place, we still had every chance in the race, but for some reason, we just didn’t have the pace. We now need to understand what went wrong and hopefully learn from it. Congratulations to the #98 BMW on their win!”

Al Faisal AL ZUBAIR, driver #777: "A very positive weekend overall! We got off to a strong start and had a solid package throughout the event. The car was performing really well. P1in the Endurance Cup for the second time is a result we can be very proud of. We’ll carry this momentum into the final two rounds!"

Jens KLINGMANN, driver #777: "P1 at the end! We felt strong all weekend. We saw it in qualifying already where we did P2, our best result in the Endurance Cup this season. That’s a big positive! We can be very proud of our effort, we gave everything! Now we’re looking forward to the season finale in Barcelona in mid-October!"

Ben TUCK, driver #777: “From Free Practice on, we had a really strong car and the pace was great. I think we all did a very good job and pretty much well executed the race. We did the best job we could and it’s a P2 on track but a P1 in the end!”