Vosse: WRT “Cannot Ask For More” from BMW Debut

Team WRT boss Vincent Vosse said his team’s first race with BMW ‘could not be much better’ after it won the Hankook 24H Dubai, with both cars represented on the podium.

The No. 7 BMW M4 GT3 piloted by Mohammed Al Saud, Diego Menchaca, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, Jens Klingmann and Dries Vanthoor came out on top in the 18th running of the event on Sunday, beating Herberth Motorsport.

It was WRT’s second consecutive victory in Dubai, having won last year’s edition with Audi.

This year’s triumph bears extra significance as it comes in the first race for the new alliance between the Belgian powerhouse outfit and BMW.

With the No. 46 car headlined by new factory drivers Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin joining the sister car on the podium, Vosse was thrilled about the outcome.

“You always know that you have a chance as long as you have a strong car, which was the case,” he told Sportscar365. “And as long as you have the right driver lineup without mistakes, you have a chance.

“We know that we had a lot to learn. We did learn a lot and on top of that we won.

“So we cannot ask for more. I have to say it can not be much better than that.”

Vosse said after the race that WRT’s presence at the Dubai enduro had not been a certainty, revealing that team leadership was not unanimous in its position on the event when it was deliberated upon late last year.

“When I was discussing about doing Dubai last October, we didn’t all agree that it was the best way to start the season and to start the collaboration with BMW because it did not give us the chance to extend our testing program in Europe,” he said.

“But in the end this race was a very important learning process for the next race.”

While the No. 7 car was a near-constant presence in the top three throughout the race and led for much of it, the final hour saw considerable tension as the No. 91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R attempted to wrestle the victory away with a strategic gamble.

The German outfit short-fueled on its penultimate pitstop, which gave Robert Renauer track position over Vanthoor.

“I expected a gamble on fueling short and hoping to have a Code 60 later on, whereas we did a full fuel and driver change,” Vosse said.

“We were behind the Porsche after the pitstop. We were not a hundred percent sure they still had to pit.

“We were guessing they still had to pit but you never know. It’s difficult to know.”

The situation in the final hour was further complicated when race control gave Renauer a ten-second penalty for track limit infringements, meaning Vanthoor only needed to close the gap to the Porsche in order to win.

“We had to be under ten seconds behind them,” Vosse explained. “We started 16 seconds [behind] and then Dries slowly caught up. We were at 8.9 seconds at one stage, I believe, which was the lead of the race then.

“It was a bit of a funny way to get the lead, but it’s not our fault. Then obviously they knew they had to stop for fuel.”

Renauer: Fuel Gamble “The Only Chance” at Victory

Ultimately, the penalty for Renauer proved to be of little consequence as the No. 91 Porsche dove into the pits with 20 minutes remaining for more fuel.

The Lionspeed-liveried Porsche was already halfway down the pit lane as the sought-after Code 60 fell, triggered by a stoppage for the No. 989 MRS GT-Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup of Nico Verdonck.

The timing of the Code 60 meant the advantage for Herberth was lost, leaving WRT clear to take the victory.

Renauer told Sportscar365 that the decision to put less fuel in the car for its penultimate stop was an all-or-nothing attempt at victory.

“We saw the stint before that normally, under normal race pace we had no chance against the BMW,” said the German.

“So we decided to fuel only half of what we needed for the last 50-55 minutes and gamble on a Code 60.

“The fuel alarm came on, and suddenly the Code 60 was there but a few seconds too late, so we were already in the pit lane.

“So it was good luck for us, but it came a little bit too late. It was the only chance we had, so we took the possibility.

“In the end, we’re still proud of the result. With a Pro-Am team with two gentlemen drivers, they did twelve hours. We can’t complain about second place.”

Renauer went on to praise the sister No. 92 car piloted by the all-American crew of Jason Hart, Elliot Skeer, Adam Adelson and Seth Lucas, which enjoyed a strong run to finish sixth overall.

“We’re happy about the result and we celebrate,” he said. “We’re really happy about our American guys. They turn up for the first time and were really good.

“We never expected to finish first and second in Pro-Am.

“They’re really nice guys and hopefully we can do some more races in Creventic or somewhere else with these guys. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed it.”