Vosse: WRT Still Adapting to M4 GT3 Ahead of First Race

Team WRT boss Vincent Vosse said his team is still in the process of adapting to the BMW M4 GT3 ahead of the operation’s BMW debut in the Hankook 24H Dubai, but that he has “no doubt” the squad will get to grips with the car.

The Belgian powerhouse outfit, defending winners in Dubai, has entered a pair of M4 GT3s for this weekend’s 24H Series season opener.

It marks the first race outing for WRT’s new alliance with the Munich manufacturer after more than a decade of campaigning Audis.

Ahead of campaigns in both Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and selected rounds in Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli, the Vosse-led operation has traveled to Dubai.

“Since 2016 we do this race and from 2016 I understand that it gives our drivers a feeling with the car, gives us track time,” Vosse told Sportscar365.

“It’s a good way to approach the season and we did not want to change that, so we came here. As we do every year.

“It’s different tires, a different track, different BoP, but there’s small details that we want to improve in our know-how of the car. It’s a perfect situation.”

Vosse described the progress with the M4 GT3 through the week at Dubai Autodrome as ‘so far so good,’ adding that the team is still working to acclimatize itself to the new platform.

“So far it’s been okay,” he noted. “No problem, no big stress.

“We are of course not really looking at performance at the moment, we are looking running everyone and having everyone in the car feeling comfortable.

“We have to adapt a lot of small details here and there, so it takes a bit of time but all to plan so far.

“We did about ten days of testing last year before packing everything [up] and getting everything ready for here in Dubai and in Bathurst in three weeks.

“So this our first running of 2023, so far it has been good. Of course it is a very different car.

“It is nice, it is one of the newest GT3 cars. The architecture of the car and the way the power is applied; everything is new to us.

“But of course we are used to adapting. We adapted in DTM, we adapted in TCR and LMP2, so there’s no reason not to adapt in other categories and we will. I have no doubts.”

Vosse pointed out that the alliance between WRT and BMW is still in its infancy and that the two sides need to ‘find each other’ for the bond between the two sides to get stronger.

“Of course, here there is much more to learn,” he said. “We need to find each other in the way to work. The knowledge of knowing each other is so important in racing.”

Martin: M4’s Strong Base a “Positive Sign”

Vosse’s sentiments are shared by Maxime Martin, who makes his first racing appearance for the team aboard the No. 46 car alongside Tim Whale, Valentino Rossi, Sean Gelael and Max Hesse.

The Dubai 24H is Martin’s first race back with BMW as a factory driver and his first racing experience in the M4 GT3.

Like Vosse, Martin indicated that WRT are still in the middle of a ‘learning process,’ but that he sees plenty of reasons to be positive.

“It is good to be in a GT3 again,” Martin told Sportscar365. “I have been in a few GT3 cars over the last few years with Porsche, with Aston Martin and now with the M4.

“The car has a very good base. You can feel that the base of the car is very [solid].

“As the team is discovering the car as well, we are still searching and trying things for the long term to see where we have to operate with the car and how it works, but we have really good help from BMW as well.

“They’ve been running the car for one year, so we have quite a good base. But now we try to optimize the package we have.

“It’s a learning process for the team, it’s a learning process for me, it’s a learning process for quite a few drivers in the team.

“But like I said. the base of the car is very good, so that’s a very positive sign for the next months and years.”