Plenty of podium honours for BMW M Team WRT at the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup finale at Zandvoort.

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Zandvoort. The final weekend of the Fanatec GT World Challenge
Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup in Zandvoort (NED) saw the BMW M
Team WRT crews standing several times on the podium over the
weekend. BMW M works drivers Valentino Rossi (ITA) and Maxime Martin
(BEL) impressed with a fantastic comeback to third in Saturday’s
race. Fellow BMW M works drivers, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor
(both BEL), finished an epic Sunday’s race in second position. They
were joined on the podium by WRT’s Niklas Krütten (GER) and Calan
Williams (AUS) in third, who were crowned Champions in the GTWC Gold
Cup and the GTWC Sprint Gold Cup.

 

On Saturday, after a difficult qualifying session, BMW M Team WRT’s
four BMW M4 GT3s started the race in the middle of the grid. At the
start, the four cars managed to stay out of trouble and to gain some
positions. Rossi, at the wheel of the #46 BMW M4 GT3, made up five
positions before the race was interrupted by a Safety Car. Rossi then
handed the #46 car to Martin, who had a fantastic drive, and, thanks
to several audacious overtakes, managed to bring the car into third
position after starting from P15, delivering the third podium of the
sprint season for the #46 team. The #32 car of Vanthoor and Weerts
crossed the line in fifth.

Sundays’ race was action-packed due to mixed weather conditions. The
day started with a good qualifying with the BMW M crews locking out
the front row. The #46 BMW M4 GT3 started from pole with Martin at the
wheel, followed by Williams, who had finished a sensational qualifying
in second on the grid in the #30 car.

All drivers made a great start, with Martin comfortably staying in
front. But, after a few laps, heavy rain poured down on the Zandvoort
circuit making the track conditions very difficult. A Full Course
Yellow procedure followed by a Safety Car neutralised the race for a
few laps. After the re-start, Krütten was leading the race with the
#30 car and Rossi was in second, while Vanthoor worked his way towards
the front from further behind. Until the chequered flag, the slippery
track resulted in several position changes. After one hour of exciting
racing, it was P2 for Weerts and Vanthoor and P3 plus the titles for
Krütten and Williams. Martin and Rossi finished the final race of the
season in seventh. Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Thomas Neubauer (both
FRA) finished the races in seventh and 13th in WRT’s number 31 BMW M4 GT3.

Quotes after the Zandvoort races.

 

Vincent Vosse, BMW M Team WRT Team Principal:
“Finishing the season with a double podium and winning the drivers’
championship in gold class is a great feeling. Of course, when you
enter a championship it’s always to get the overall win, and as we did
not we are a little bit disappointed. But we have learnt a lot and we
will come back stronger next year.”

Valentino Rossi (#46 BMW M4 GT3): “Yesterday was very
good, we reached our third podium of the season. It was a great race,
because we started P15 and we made a very good come back with a lot of
overtakes between Max and me, and I was very happy. Today we, for
sure, expected more because we started from pole position and Max was
flying, especially in the dry. We had a very good advantage. But
unfortunately, after it started to rain very hard, I was not fast
enough with the rain tyres in the wet. I don’t have a lot of
experience, so I lost time. And before the end I made a mistake and
lost three positions. It’s a shame, but anyway the season was good, we
had three podiums, one win, we finished P5 in the championship, so I
enjoyed it a lot and I would like to thank Max and the whole team for
this season.”

Maxime Martin (#46 BMW M4 GT3): “In the end it was a
good final weekend. For sure, yesterday’s podium was the highlight of
our weekend, starting from P15 and being able to be on the podium was
definitely very satisfying. Today was more unfortunate. We started
from pole position, which certainly was positive. We were very good in
the dry and then I was the first one to come into heavy rain with
slicks and I made a very small mistake but, in the end, we were able
to keep P2. After the pitstop, the conditions were very difficult in
the wet and in the end we finished P7. We still scored some points and
I think we had a good and strong sprint championship. We are happy
about this weekend and now let’s see what next season brings us.”

Charles Weerts (#32 BMW M4 GT3): “Overall it was
quite a difficult weekend for us. Coming here as title contenders and
not having the title in the end is a bit of a shame, even though we
knew our chances were quite slim. We did the maximum we could, so
yesterday we scored some points, but not enough to stay in the battle.
Today we had nothing to lose, so we just went flat out. This morning
we were a bit unlucky with traffic in qualifying, but nevertheless
Dries did a great drive in the second stint that helped us to get a
podium, which is a nice way to end this sprint season.”

Dries Vanthoor (#32 BMW M4 GT3): “For sure it’s not
the weekend we would have hoped for, but we are ending it on a
positive note. After yesterday’s race, our chances of the championship
were gone just because in general we did not do a good race, we did
not optimise what we had in our hands. Today we had nothing to lose,
we just went all out and it was great to give a P2 to the team and
everyone for the work they’ve done the whole season. It was a nice
Sunday for the whole team, which I think is the most important going
into next year to start again on a high note.”

Calan Williams(#30 BMW M4 GT3): “The day started
fantastically with qualifying and then on the podium as well, that’s
just amazing! Well done to Niklas as well, it has been a great season.
We were obviously behind in the championship, and we knew we had to
give everything we had got. And that’s what we did!”

Niklas Krütten (#30 BMW M4 GT3):
“Today’s race was quite interesting. Racing at the front is something
we weren’t used to too much. The last couple of rounds have been
pretty hard for us and we have not been sure if it would be possible
to turn it around. But Calan changed it all this morning. He made it
possible and, in the end, … I still can’t believe that we are champions!”

 

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