Season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe: Team WRT and ROWE Racing secure further titles.

Portimão. The BMW M Motorsport teams secured further titles at the season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS in Portimão (POR). Team WRT clinched the overall team championship, combining the results from the Sprint and Endurance races, after already securing the Sprint Team Championship two weeks ago. Jens Klingmann, Tim Tramnitz (both GER) and Ugo de Wilde (BEL) are the new drivers champions in the Gold Cup Endurance standings. Their ROWE Racing team won the team title in the Endurance Gold Cup. The final three-hour race also brought another victory and podium finishes in the individual cups.

For Team WRT, it was the #30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO that sealed the team championship title. In a dramatic final race, Matisse Lismont, Amaury Cordeel (both BEL) and Ignacio Montenegro (ARG) crossed the finish line in an excellent fifth place overall, while also celebrating victory in the Silver Cup. The crew in the #30 had already secured the Silver Cup titles in the Sprint, Endurance and combined standings ahead of the finale.

The Gold Cup also delivered plenty of excitement. Klingmann, Tramnitz and de Wilde, who had celebrated class victory in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) over the summer with the #998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO run by ROWE Racing, arrived in Portimão leading the cup standings. In the final three-hour race, they went head-to-head with their rivals. In a thrilling closing phase, Klingmann secured second place on the Gold Cup podium and, with it, the much-celebrated title.

There was also a podium finish in the Bronze Cup: the #42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO entered by Oman Racing by Century Motorsport finished third. Ahmad Al Harthy (OMA), Javier Sagrera (ESP) and Calan Williams (AUS) shared driving duties. Behind them, the Paradine Competition #991 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Darren Leung, James Kellett (both GBR) and Robert de Haan (NED), finished fourth in the Bronze Cup.

The Pro cars, meanwhile, faced a number of challenges in Portimão. The ROWE Racing #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO eventually finished 22nd overall. Marco Wittmann (GER), Jake Dennis (GBR) and Philipp Eng (AUT) had worked their way up the field after a difficult qualifying session, but dropped back following a puncture. The Team WRT #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO was running sixth after the opening phase when Jordan Pepper (RSA) had to serve a drive-through penalty for causing a collision. Pepper, Charles Weerts (BEL) and Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) fought their way back up the field. However, shortly before the finish, van der Linde suffered the same fate as Eng in the #98: he was hit by a rival, which also resulted in a puncture.

The Team WRT #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Valentino Rossi (ITA), Neil Verhagen (USA) and Max Hesse (GER), suffered a puncture in the early stages. The trio subsequently retired from the race due to a mechanical failure.

Reactions after the race.

Vincent Vosse (Team Principal Team WRT): “I’m thrilled with this 80th title for the team! That’s a great achievement. Our Silver car has played a huge part in making it happen. Huge congratulations to them for an exceptional season, both in sprint and endurance racing. It’s nice to end the season with another title win. We would also have liked to be more successful in this race with our Pro cars, but they experienced some issues so on this side the race was not what we had expected. Congratulations also to our colleagues at ROWE Racing for winning the Gold Cup.”

Hans-Peter Naundorf (Team Principal ROWE Racing): “It was a very exciting race to end the season, with a great result. The drivers and the whole team delivered an outstanding performance. This was our first season competing in the Gold Cup, and we had a clear mission. With Jens Klingmann as mentor, alongside Ugo de Wilde and Tim Tramnitz, we won the season highlight in Spa and have now also secured the overall title. It couldn’t have gone any better. Everyone involved can be very proud.”

Matisse Lismont (#30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 5th place and 1st place Silver Cup): “I think this was, once again, one of our perfect executions this season. We had a bit of luck on our side too, but this one was very special, especially with P5 overall. I think it realistically shows that we can fight for the overall positions and show our speed and pace. We wanted a Silver victory in Endurance because we hadn’t had one yet, and we achieved that. I’m super proud of everyone. The car was mega every race weekend, our engineers and mechanics did a brilliant job. So, a big thank you to Team WRT for the season, and a big thank you to BMW M Motorsport for the fantastic car.”

Jens Klingmann (#998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 2nd place and title win Gold Cup): “Our goal for this season was very clear: to win the GT World Challenge Gold Cup and the 24 Hours of Spa. I think we can be really proud that we achieved both. It was an extremely difficult race, with plenty of ups and downs. At one point, I thought we were going to win, then I thought we were going to lose. It was very emotional. We have to say that we weren’t the fastest, but we were the most consistent throughout the year. We made it happen as a team. That’s why I’m very proud of the guys.”

Tim Tramnitz (#998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 2nd place and title win Gold Cup): “I’m really happy. We achieved our goal for this year. It got very exciting again towards the end, but we made it through cleanly, had solid pace and were perhaps just a little smarter than the others in the end.”

Ugo de Wilde (#998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 2nd place and title win Gold Cup): “I’m really happy. That was the goal at the beginning of the season. It hasn’t been easy, honestly, and it came down to the final minutes of the race. But I’m really happy that we achieved our goal. It’s been a tough season, but we learned a lot. It was a very nice project together with Jens and Tim, and finishing on a high like this feels great before going into the winter season.”

Marco Wittmann (#98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 22nd place overall): “I have mixed feelings. We had an incredibly difficult qualifying session and started from P35. Then the team and I did a good job, and at one point we were running sixth or seventh. Unfortunately, contact with another car that hit us from behind resulted in a puncture. That ruined our race, and I think a top-five result would have been possible. Given how qualifying went, that would have been a huge achievement. All the more reason why I’m happy for our sister car, which won the Gold Cup. Congratulations to the whole team!”

Jordan Pepper (#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 30th place overall): “We have to first look at the positives for the team to get the overall championship. That is a very incredible achievement for them all, and all the hard work from everyone. So for that I’m very proud. Unfortunately, on our side though it was just not the weekend we wanted. We never really managed to get the car where we wanted to. But at least we remained positive going into the race, had a really good start, moved all the way up to sixth position. It was just unfortunately then a mistake from my end, a big apology to everyone – to the team, to my teammates, to BMW. A small mistake that was really minor led to a big consequence, which put us on the back foot. And then from there we were constantly fighting forward, looking likely to be in the points again, which would have been great. But then Kelvin got hit by a Ferrari and we got a puncture. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. This year we did both. We had some wins and we learned a lot.”

Max Hesse (#46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, DNF): “We had good potential throughout the season, but somehow we never quite managed to turn it into results. The same happened today: the puncture on the very first lap dropped us back to P60, and we then fought our way through the field to P14. Ultimately, however, we had to retire due to a technical issue, which we now need to analyse. It was also a shame for car number 32. But thanks to the #30 scoring very strongly throughout the year – hats off to the guys – the team was able to win the overall team championship. They definitely deserved it.”