Single-Car Pro Efforts for ROWE, WRT in Endurance Cup

BMW will be represented by a pair of single-car Pro entries from ROWE Racing and Team WRT in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, while series stalwart Dries Vanthoor is set to go absent from the championship for the first time in his sports car racing career.

Confirmed on Thursday, the Munich manufacturer will field a total of eight cars from five teams in the Endurance Cup, while WRT and the Darren Leung-led Paradine Competition operation form its five-car contingent in Sprint Cup competition.

In Endurance Cup, BMW’s efforts will be spearheaded by a pair of Pro entries, with ROWE and WRT entering a car each.

ROWE’s No. 98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO will be piloted by Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello, while the No. 32 WRT machine will see new BMW factory drivers Ugo de Wilde and Kelvin van der Linde team up with Charles Weerts.

Both teams scale back their program in the series compared to last year, with both WRT and the Motorsport Competence Group-operated ROWE squad fielding two cars in 2024.

ROWE in particular is affected by the unusually busy June schedule, which will see the team’s two major annual events (the Nürburgring 24 and CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa) be held on back-to-back weekends.

Team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf previously labeled the situation as “impossible” when the calendar was confirmed last summer.

WRT, meanwhile, has altered the lineup for its No. 32 car as a result of the LMDh commitments for Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde, who have both been earmarked to tackle both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Vanthoor in particular will also not be part of WRT’s Sprint Cup lineup, meaning the Belgian will go absent from the GTWC Europe grid for the first time since he made his sports car racing debut in 2016, having contested every single season since with WRT.

The Vincent Vosse-led squad will field two further cars in Endurance Cup, with a Silver Cup entry for Gilles Stadsbader, Etienne Cheli and Gustav Bergstroem.

A third car is entered under the Al Manar Racing by Team WRT banner and is set to be driven by Al Faisal Al Zubair, Ben Tuck and Jens Klingmann.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, Paradine Competition will field a pair of cars in its first season separate from Century Motorsport, with team owner Leung himself piloting the No. 991 car alongside Toby Sowery and Dan Harper.

Harper, however, is set to miss both the Detroit and Barcelona rounds as a result of clashing WeatherTech Championship commitments with Paul Miller Racing.

A second car for the British squad, entered into Silver Cup, will be driven by James Kellett, Pedro Ebrahim and Charles Clark.

BMW’s Endurance Cup presence is completed by an additional Silver entry from Century Motorsport and BMW Italia Ceccato Racing’s No. 15 car for Marcelo Tomasoni, Federico Malvestiti and Felice Jelmini.

WRT, Paradine Represented in Five-Car Sprint Entry

Team WRT is responsible for the majority of cars in BMW’s five-car Sprint Cup effort, although it will do so without one of its longest-tenured and most successful driver pairings.

As outlined, Vanthoor will not return to share the No. 31 car with longtime co-driver Weerts, with Kelvin van der Linde instead set to team up with the Belgian.

Vanthoor and Weerts captured three consecutive drivers’ titles between 2020 and 2022, finishing runner-up behind Maro Engel and Lucas Auer last year.

The lineup for WRT’s other two cars mirror its Endurance Cup effort, with Al Zubair and Klingmann sharing the No. 777 Al Manar by WRT car while Sandstroem and Stadsbader team up aboard the No. 30 machine.

Paradine, meanwhile, is represented by two cars as Leung and Harper defend their Bronze Cup title aboard the No. 991 BMW.

The sister No. 992 car will compete in Silver Cup with Jansen and Maxime Oosten forming an all-Dutch driver pairing.