WRT Plotting Full-Season Audi GTD Effort

Photo: Audi

Team WRT could mount a full-season effort in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, with the championship-winning GT3 outfit “working hard” on a GT Daytona class entry according to team principal Vincent Vosse.

The Belgian squad, which currently competes in the Blancpain GT Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli, DTM and WTCR competition, all with Audi machinery, has been in discussions to send at least one of its Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to the WeatherTech Championship on a full-time basis.

WRT made its IMSA debut in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, in partnership with Canadian outfit Speedstar, finishing third in class with drivers Kelvin van der Linde, Frederic Vervisch, Ian James and Roman de Angelis.

“We enjoyed our participation in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and we are currently in full evaluation on a full-season IMSA program for WRT,” Vosse told Endurance-Info.

“I have always been drawn to American racing and we are working hard on it.”

Sportscar365 understands that its proposed program would be run entirely in-house and not in partnership with Speedstar.

The WRT entry would fill a void for Audi in the WeatherTech Championship, which has seen the German manufacturer not having been represented on the GTD grid in several races this season.

Originally set with two full-season entries, Moorespeed pulled the plug on its program following Will Hardeman’s accident at Watkins Glen while Starworks Motorsport has missed several races after struggling with speed-related issues and is unlikely to return with an Audi next year.

It’s believed Alex Riberas, who drives for WRT in Blancpain GT Europe competition and was due to contest the full WeatherTech Championship season with Moorespeed, could be part of WRT’s proposed IMSA program.

Laurent Mercier contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John