Mies Replaces Vanthoor in Zandvoort BSS Finale

Christopher Mies will take the seat of the injured Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8 LMS ultra, in an effort to help Robin Frijns secure the Blancpain GT and Sprint titles at Zandvoort this weekend.

The driver lineups of the No. 1 and No. 2 Audis had to be reorganized following Vanthoor’s massive accident in the Qualifying Race at Misano last Saturday, which resulted in multiple fractures for the Belgian.

Mies comes over from the No. 2 car he would normally share with Enzo Ide, and was considered the best option to help Frijns in his title bid on home soil.

This leaves the second Audi of the WRT squad with an entirely new lineup.

Ide had prior commitments this weekend, so his seat was already taken by fellow countryman Frédéric Vervisch, who delivered some strong performances with the No. 75 ISR Audi in the Blancpain Endurance Series this season.

Audi GT factory driver Nicki Thiim is the final piece of the puzzle, and will slot in next to Vervisch.

“Fred Vervisch will race with us for the first time. He has shown very good things in GT and I am confident he’ll do well,” said WRT Team Principal Vincent Vosse.

“Nicki Thiim has already raced with WRT at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and we were very happy with the job he did, so I think we have a very strong fallback solution in place.”

Frijns heads to Zandvoort with an eight-point lead on the HTP Bentley of Maxi Buhk and Vincent Abril, while Norbert Siedler also has an outside shot at the title in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari he will share with Jeroen Bleekemolen.