McIntosh Set for Switch to WRT; Thompson Likely to Join

Photo: JTR Motorsports Engineering

Anthony McIntosh is set to make the switch to Team WRT for his first full season FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, with longtime co-driver and coach Parker Thompson poised to join him for a globe-trotting LMGT3 effort.

Bronze-rated McIntosh, who took the WEC’s production-based class by storm in his mid-season debut in the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, turned laps in a WRT-run BMW M4 GT3 EVO alongside Thompson and Dan Harper in Sunday’s Bahrain rookie test.

While already confirmed to be joining the Belgian squad for the upcoming Asian Le Mans Series season, the American driver revealed to Sportscar365 that he is set to race with WRT in the world championship next year as well.

“That is our plan going forward,” McIntosh said. “Parker and I have been working together for a couple of years.

“He actually helped me, not only coach me up to win the Porsche Endurance Challenge [North America title] but he also drove with me as my co-driver, then him and I started in SRO [America] this past year.

“We just have a great relationship. I’ve just been talking with him for a long time about, ‘Hey I need somebody to coach me in Europe and I don’t want that to end.’

“But he’s had a great relationship with Toyota and Lexus. I think for me, my goal was to find a team that I could be with, to find a coach that I could be with, because I want to get better but I also want to have fun.

“That was really important to me and Parker knows both of those things.

“We had talked about what my priorities were and I asked Parker what his priorities were and he wanted to go to Le Mans, he wanted to do Spa, he wanted to do Bathurst.

“His next three-year priorities and my priorities match. This is a thing that just happened over time organically.

“We haven’t settled [everything] in stone yet. This was a big step forward [today]. I respect the relationship that he had with Toyota and Lexus but for me, it’s a matter of compatibility.”

Thompson, who recently announced his departure from Vasser Sullivan Racing and Lexus/Toyota, has retained his FIA Silver driver rating and is poised to join McIntosh in WRT’s BMW next year.

It comes in addition to a possible drive with Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, with Thompson set to test the team’s LMP2 car in next weekend’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway in what’s understood to be an evaluation.

“I’m working on some really exciting projects,” Thompson told Sportscar365. “The big one this year is obviously getting a try-out with Tony and WRT. We’ll see after this test after how it goes

“After being on track with them, the car was awesome, the team was great. I’m looking forward to the future of sorting it all out.”

The 27-year-old Canadian turned his first laps in the GT3-spec BMW in a test at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta immediately following the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji, where McIntosh and WRT engineers flew straight from Japan.

The test was in an ex-Century Motorsport BMW chassis that McIntosh purchased and shipped Stateside to get extra seat time.

“I did a good job at Road Atlanta but everybody knows that I know how to drive Road Atlanta,” said Thompson. “They didn’t know if I knew how to drive a track that I’ve never been to.

“Today, the one-day test, that checked that box.”

Thompson was the quickest BMW LMGT3 driver in the Bahrain rookie test.

When asked what it would mean to take on the WEC, Thompson, who has spent the last two years in Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus RC F GT3 in the GTD class in WeatherTech Championship competition, admitted going for a world championship is the primary appeal.

“I love IMSA, I grew up racing in IMSA but when you win an IMSA championship, you can’t call yourself a world champion. You call yourself an IMSA champion,” he said.

“That means a lot in its own right. I still want to win an IMSA championship but a shot at winning a World Endurance Championship, not many North American guys get that opportunity to get their foot in the door.

“The opportunity is pretty slim. This is a pretty huge opportunity.”

McIntosh and Thompson would be joined by a yet-to-be-announced BMW factory driver in the WEC effort, which is also likely to see the same driving squad for the upcoming 2025-26 Asian LMS season, which kicks off at Sepang International Circuit next month.

Bahrain Test Important to Prove Thompson’s Potential

McIntosh said Sunday’s running in Bahrain was vital in not only getting crucial seat time in the BMW on a WEC circuit but also to prove that 2022 Carrera Cup North America champion Thompson was up to the challenge.

“That was really important to [WRT],” he said. “Europeans look at Americans — and I consider Parker American — I think they look at us like, ‘These guys are a bunch of hillbilly’s.’ They just don’t take us seriously as drivers.

“That’s OK. I don’t have a problem with that at all. But move over when we get there because I’m coming through!

“Parker did fantastic today.”

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