How Team WRT grew from a 2009 Belgian Audi operation into a multi-series winner, a 2021 Le Mans LMP2 champion and a BMW Hypercar team.
W Racing Team is a Belgian team founded in late 2009 by Rene Verbist, Vincent Vosse and Yves Weerts. It won the Belcar titles in 2010, the 2021 Le Mans LMP2 class and WEC and ELMS titles, and it became a BMW Hypercar team in 2024.
Team WRT, the Belgian outfit also known as W Racing Team, has spent more than a decade winning in GT racing, endurance sports cars and touring cars. It was founded in late 2009 and has since raced Audi, BMW and Oreca machinery across the world.
Who founded Team WRT and what did it begin with?
Team WRT was founded in late 2009 by Rene Verbist, an engineer who had led Volkswagen's racing arm, alongside driver Vincent Vosse and businessman Yves Weerts. It began by buying three Audi R8 LMS cars when it became the official Belgian Audi motorsport importer.
The first season, in 2010, was a shared programme that ran in Belgium's Belcar endurance series, in French GT events and at a mid-season Spa 24 Hours appearance. The team won both the Belcar drivers' and teams' titles that year, which gave it an immediate reputation.
A 2009 Belgian Audi operation grew into a GT, touring car and Le Mans winner, and then a BMW Hypercar team.
How did the team grow in GT racing from 2011 to 2015?
Team WRT added the FIA GT3 European Championship and the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2011, and it won the Spa 24 Hours that summer in only its second attempt. By 2014 and 2015 it had collected titles across the Blancpain GT, Endurance and Sprint series, plus a 24 Hours of Nurburgring win.
The 2011 season brought an early result at the FIA GT3 European Championship opener, where Gregory Franchi and Enzo Ide took the second race. The GT Tour programme, run as Team Audi France with David Hallyday and Stephane Ortelli, earned its first win at Dijon-Prenois that year.
In July 2011 the team won the Spa 24 Hours. Franchi shared the car with factory Audi pilots Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekstrom, and the result showed how quickly the squad had matured in its second year.
In 2012 the team secured places in the FIA GT World Championship for Audi, finished third in the teams standings and won three races along the way. In 2013 the squad took the teams' and drivers' crowns in the renamed FIA GT Series, a clear sign of its growing strength.
In 2014 the team won the Blancpain GT and Endurance titles for teams and drivers, plus the teams' title in the Sprint series. Laurens Vanthoor, Rene Rast and Markus Winkelhock gave the team a second Spa 24 Hours victory that July.
The 2015 season repeated the GT double, with the Blancpain GT titles for teams and drivers again. In May, the updated R8 LMS GT3 took the 24 Hours of Nurburgring for the team, a win that cemented its reputation in endurance racing.
Did Team WRT race touring cars?
Yes. Team WRT entered the TCR International Series in 2016 with Volkswagen Golfs under the Leopard Racing badge, and it won the drivers' title in 2016 and 2017. It also ran in the World Touring Car Cup in 2018 and 2019 and in the DTM in 2019 and 2020.
The touring car programme was built around Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay in 2016, whose results carried the team to two successive TCR titles. The team's DTM programme began with two Audi RS5 Turbo cars run as a customer team, and Jonathan Aberdein finished tenth in 2019 as the highest-ranked rookie.
The team also won the 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours, the 48th edition of the event. Its DTM programme ended when Audi withdrew from the series, and the team chose not to enter the 2021 season.
How did the team enter prototype racing with Oreca cars?
Team WRT entered the FIA World Endurance Championship in LMP2 in 2021 with an Oreca 07, with Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi as drivers, and it added an ELMS entry for Robert Kubica. Its debut season delivered titles in both series and a Le Mans class win.
After leaving the DTM, the team announced its intention to enter LMP2 as preparation for a future LMDh programme. Kubica was joined in the ELMS by Louis Deletraz and Yifei Ye, and the team won the first two races of the series.
At the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours both cars made the race. A late technical fault stopped the #41 car on the final lap, and the #31 car crossed the line first, seven-tenths of a second clear of its chaser after the #41 car had been running in second.
That result, plus the WEC and ELMS driver and team titles, meant the team had won every possible title in its LMP2 debut season. The team also won five of six titles in the GT World Challenge that year, one of the best seasons in its history.
Why did Team WRT switch from Audi to BMW?
Audi halted its LMDh programme days before the first car was revealed, leaving Team WRT looking for a Hypercar route. On 2 August 2022 the team ended its 13-year GT partnership with Audi, and BMW Motorsport announced within hours that it would run the team's factory LMDh programme.
The switch extended to GT racing. From 2023 the team fielded BMW M4 GT3 cars, and its Hypercar entry debuted with two BMW M Hybrid V8s in the 2024 WEC season, after extensive testing from 2023 onwards.
The first season was difficult. Both Hypercars crashed at Le Mans, but at the Fuji six-hour race the #15 car reached second, which gave BMW its first overall podium in the WEC. In LMGT3 the squad enjoyed much more success, with a one-two at Imola after a bold call to keep both cars on slicks in the rain.
What did the team achieve in 2025 and 2026?
In 2025 Kevin Magnussen joined the #15 Hypercar and the team opened new facilities at Bierset near Liege Airport. In 2026 it began fielding BMW Hypercars in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, taking over from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as BMW's partner in America.
Magnussen replaced Marco Wittmann in the #15 car alongside Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello. The car was quick early in the season, and a second place at Imola came within ten seconds of the winning Ferrari before late mechanical problems hurt the result at Le Mans.
In the LMGT3 class the team scored a few podiums but could not challenge for the titles. The Bierset base brought its different activities under one roof, a move that reflected the scale the operation had reached by then.
How did the Audi years shape the team?
The partnership with Audi was central to the team's identity for more than a decade. Its cars ran in Belgian, French and international GT events, and the relationship lasted from 2010 until the break in 2022. Those cars defined the squad's public image for most of its early life.
The Audi years also brought a touring car side project. Two Volkswagen Scirocco GT24s were bought for the Belgian Touring Car Series in 2010, and the team finished as vice-champions in its category. That early breadth helped the squad learn how to run different cars in the same season.
Who were the team's key drivers?
The team's results depended on a long list of drivers, from GT specialists such as Gregory Franchi and Dries Vanthoor to touring car racers and endurance drivers from several countries. Their combined work built the record that followed, and many of them returned across several seasons.
Markus Winkelhock, Laurens Vanthoor and Rene Rast delivered the 2014 Spa 24 Hours win, while Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay carried the TCR effort. In prototypes, Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade won the 2023 WEC LMP2 title, a result that capped the team's LMP2 era.
In 2022 the team also ran a car for Valentino Rossi, with Frederic Vervisch and Nico Muller alongside him. That line-up showed how the squad mixed motorsport celebrity with working professionals to get results.
Team WRT season by season
| Year | Series | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Belcar | Drivers' and Teams' Championships |
| 2011 | Spa 24 Hours | Win in only the second attempt |
| 2014 | Blancpain GT and Endurance | Drivers' and Teams' titles and a second Spa 24 Hours win |
| 2015 | 24 Hours of Nurburgring | Win with the updated Audi R8 LMS GT3 |
| 2016 | TCR International | Drivers' title with Stefano Comini |
| 2018 | Bathurst 12 Hour | Win at the first attempt |
| 2021 | Le Mans and WEC | LMP2 class win and WEC LMP2 titles |
| 2023 | Dubai 24 Hour | Third Dubai win, in a BMW M4 GT3 |
| 2024 | WEC Hypercar | BMW's first overall WEC podium at Fuji |
| 2026 | IMSA SportsCar Championship | BMW Hypercar entry in America |
Where did the team's endurance wins come from?
The Dubai 24 Hour became a signature race for the team. It won the event in 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2025, and its 2026 success added another entry to a long run of endurance victories. The race has been a regular target for the squad, which entered it in several seasons.
The 8 Hours of Indianapolis produced a run of wins in 2023, 2024 and 2025, which showed the team's reliability in long races. Each result added to its reputation for finishing strong. Earlier successes included the 2013 and 2014 Baku World Challenge races and the 2015 Sepang 12 Hours.
The team won the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2018 at its first attempt, and it returned to the top step at the Mount Panorama circuit in 2025. Those results gave the squad a reputation for adapting quickly to unfamiliar tracks.
What did the LMP2 era achieve?
Across the LMP2 era the team won 10 races in 19 starts and claimed two championships in three seasons. It was a concentrated period of success that set up the move to Hypercars, and the benchmark it set was one the squad would later chase with BMW.
The 2023 WEC LMP2 title went to Kubica, Deletraz and Andrade in car #41. Winning that title was the last major achievement of the LMP2 chapter before the team committed to the BMW programme.
Which races has the team won?
The victory list runs from Zolder and Spa to Baku, Sepang, Bathurst and Suzuka, with a steady stream of endurance wins along the way. Notable wins include the Dubai 24 Hour in 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2025, plus the 8 Hours of Indianapolis in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The team's 2026 wins included the Dubai 24 Hour again, along with the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo. Those results show that the squad is still a winner across more than one manufacturer.
What is Team WRT's legacy?
Team WRT is regarded as one of the strongest GT and endurance teams in the world, with titles across touring cars, GT and LMP2 in more than a decade of racing. Its 2021 Le Mans win and its move into BMW Hypercars show its ability to adapt.
Its record in GT racing is among the most decorated in the sport, and its drivers include some of the most successful names in endurance racing. The team's ability to keep winning across manufacturers is one of its clearest achievements.
Its 2026 IMSA entry and its LMGT3 podiums show that the team has continued to find competitive footing, and the Bierset base gives it a settled home for the years ahead.
