TEAM WRT ANNOUNCES STRONG DRIVER LINE-UPS FOR ITS SECOND FIA WEC LMGT3 CAMPAIGN
WRT HQ, January 14th, 2025: Today Team WRT announces its driver line-ups for the LMGT3 campaign in the FIA World Endurance Championship. For the second time, the Belgian squad will embark on a double programme in the world’s top series for endurance racing, fielding two BMW M Hybrid V8 cars under the BMW M Motorsport Team WRT in the Hypercar class, and two new BMW M4 GT3 EVOs in the LMGT3 class.
Hypercar
As a reminder, the BMW M Team WRT driver line-ups in the Hypercar class have been already announced by BMW M Motorsport before the end of last year. They include a significant new face: F1 driver Kevin Magnussen joins the team, replacing Marco Wittman who switches to the BMW programme in the IMSA series. The Dane will join Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor in car #15.
The line-up for car #20 remains unchanged, with Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde.
To be noted, BMW M Team WRT will field two-driver line-ups at the Spa round, as both Vanthoor and van der Linde will be unavailable due to a schedule conflict with the IMSA round at Laguna Seca.
LMGT3
In the LMGT3 class, Team WRT will be involved with two new BMW M4 GT3 EVO cars, which have gone through intensive development and testing work during the winter. The objective is to build upon the competitive race form shown last year and to fight for top honours. In this class, the line-ups have been reshuffled.
In car #31, entered under the banner of The Bend Team WRT, Augusto Farfus is joined by two newcomers, Timur Boguslavskiy and Yasser Shahin. Kazan-born Timur has been a strong competitor of WRT for several years in the Fanatec GT World Europe, where he has taken Silver Cup (2019) and overall (2023) titles in the Endurance Cup before joining the FIA WEC with Lexus last year.
Experienced Bronze Australian driver, Yasser, is a double GT World Australia champion (2021-22) and finished as LMGT3 runner-up in the FIA WEC last year in a Porsche, with race wins at Spa and Le Mans.
In car #46, Ahmad Al Harthy and Valentino Rossi are prepared for a second season together and will be joined by Kelvin van der Linde, a double ADAC GT Masters champion (2014, 2019) and a double winner (2017, 2022) at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The South African will thus join his younger brother Sheldon in the WRT family, but he is certainly not a new face in the team, as he drove for the Belgian squad in 2019-22.
On top of the FIA WEC, the GT3 racing programme of Team WRT will obviously continue to include the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. The driver line-ups will be announced in due course. The 2025 GT3 season of the Belgian squad started in style last weekend with a fourth win in the Dubai 24 Hours, with Al Faisal Al Zubair, Dan Harper, Max Hesse, Darren Leung and Ben Tuck giving the AlManar Racing by Team WRT-livered new BMW M4 GT3 EVO its first victory. The year’s second outing is scheduled for this coming weekend at the Abu Dhabi 6 Hours, with Charles Weerts, Yasser Shahin and Timur Bugolavskiy at the wheel, ahead of the Bathurst 12 Hours on 1st-2nd February.
Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal Team WRT: “We are so happy to be back in the LMGT3 class of the FIA WEC and to do it with strong and quite renewed line-ups. We welcome Yasser Shahin, who performed very strongly last year, taking also a great win at Le Mans, and Timur Boguslavskiy, whom we know well for having raced against him in the past. He always gave us a hard time and I am happy to have him with us now. Captain of car #31 will be Augusto Farfus, who needs no introduction and is one of the strongest drivers in BMW’s roster. There will be a new Pro in car #46, as Kelvin van der Linde returns to the team. We know him very well, as he has often raced with us in the past, and fought at the top… we are delighted! We are also very happy to continue with Ahmad Al Harthy and Valentino Rossi. Ahmad had a strong season last year, proving that he is a fighter, and we are of course excited and proud, together with BMW and our partners, to retain Vale and have him so determined ahead of his second season in the FIA WEC. We had a tough season last year, although also some great successes, like the one-two win at Imola and second at Le Mans, and we definitely want more, so we are ready to fight hard, hopefully for the championship!”
Timur BOGUSLAVSKIY, driver #31: “Teaming up with WRT marks a significant and promising step forward in my racing career. Having experienced WRT’s exceptional performance and professionalism in the last few years as my top competitor, I’m now excited and optimistic about the success we can achieve together as a team. As we head into the 2025 WEC season, I am more determined than ever to compete at the highest level.”
Augusto FARFUS, driver #31: “I am very happy to be back in the FIA WEC and grateful for the opportunity. We will have two new teammates in the crew this year and I think they are both very strong. Timur has always been a top runner in the Fanatec GT and Yasser has proven last year what he is capable of. With the experience we all have acquired, we can have a strong season this year.”
Yasser SHAHIN, driver #31: “I'm delighted to have the opportunity to compete in the WEC with WRT and BMW. For years now, GT3 racing has been on the rise taking its ultimate form in the WEC and I am thrilled to be a part of it. In 2024, I watched with admiration how Team WRT operate and it was a natural choice to seek to partner with a team that has a shared commitment to performance and excellence. It is an incredibly competitive series but one where patience and strategy trumps outright performance at times and I’m looking forward to performing in the endurance format. This will be the second WEC season I participate in after the unexpected success of the first season. Representing the Bend on the global stage is such a privilege and a role I enjoy performing. With an excellent driver line-up and Team WRT, I feel like we have very good prospects for 2025.”
Ahmad AL HARTHY, driver #46: “I am delighted to be back in the car #46 with Valentino and our new teammate Kelvin. Vale and I had an amazing first year together, we learnt a lot and I hope that continuation will bring consistency to the team. I am really looking forward to work with Vale and a top driver like Kelvin. With one season under our belts, I think we can have a really strong and successful season.”
Valentino ROSSI, driver #46: “Very happy to continue my experience in the FIA WEC, as last year was a strong debut season. We had some good races including two podiums and we want to try to be stronger and faster. We will work hard together with BMW to improve our performance and be more competitive in every race. Le Mans is of course the most important one, we were unlucky last year, but we will fight for the podium in 2025!”
Kelvin VAN DER LINDE, driver #46: “I am really excited to join the #46 crew, with Vale and Ahmad, two drivers I have been watching closely in the FIA WEC last year. Vale has become an all-rounded GT driver, I have already worked with him in the past, I know his commitment and his data-focused way of working. Ahmad is one of the best Bronze drivers in the field, and we can be proud to have him on board. The three of us can make a very good team! All of us have the experience of a first LMGT3 season in WEC, we can put that experience together and go for some big results, including at Le Mans, which is the one we are all looking to be successful at. I am really excited and can’t wait to start!”
