Weerts: Fourth Sprint Title “Won’t Be Easy” After BMW Switch

Charles Weerts reckons it “won’t be easy” for he and Dries Vanthoor to claim a fourth consecutive Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup title this year after Team WRT’s switch from Audi to BMW.

Weerts and Vanthoor won the last three championships in Audi machinery, but they are now sharing a BMW M4 GT3 after WRT changed manufacturers over the winter.

The Belgian team’s new era after more than a decade with Audi is well underway following several early-season endurance races, but this weekend’s Sprint Cup opener at Brands Hatch will be its first outing with BMW in the shorter 60-minute race format.

Weerts hopes that the No. 32 pairing will be able to maintain its momentum from the last three title-winning seasons despite the significant program shift.

“We knew the Audi by heart and we know that it fits really well the Sprint tracks,” Weerts told Sportscar365.

“We had the momentum and knew how to work, and how to address the races. We just had a very efficient way of working and it paid off in the last three years.

“Now, working with BMW, it’s a great new chapter. We won in Kyalami and had a potential podium in Monza. Winning the 24 Hours of Dubai also shows the car is performing really well. We saw last year that Sheldon [van der Linde] was champion in DTM.

“It’s not going to be an easy year because the competition is very high, with very good Lambos and Audis. So it’s not going to be easy, but we will give our best.

“I’m sure that, at the end of the day, it’s not going to be about winning all races, but about being able to score in all races and being consistent.

“We are definitely contenders and will try to defend our title in the best way possible. But it’s still a new year for us and the competition is very high.

“It won’t be easy, but our target is to stay on top.”

According to Weerts, WRT carried out a mixture of long and short runs during private testing as it sought to understand the best way to set up the car in different conditions.

Brands Hatch will mark the first Sprint Cup appearance for the M4 GT3 which was introduced last year, although it has raced in other short-format series such as ADAC GT Masters and DTM.

“Theoretically, the endurance tracks should normally suit our car better because it’s good in long and fast corners where we can find time,” said Weerts.

“But, at the end of the day, it’s a bit the role of the BoP to ensure our car is competitive. So it goes in both ways.

“We know our car is strong on some tracks where they have to slow us down, and at other tracks we also need a little boost. Hopefully, they will address this in the best way possible. They did it pretty well in the past years.

“I believe that tracks like [Brands Hatch], where you have some fast corners, Hockenheim and maybe Zandvoort, the car can be fast too.

“But for sure in Misano and Valencia we will struggle compared to the Audis which we know to be very strong there.”

Previewing BMW’s chances at the Brands Hatch season-opener, Weerts said: “We should be quite strong in the middle sector, the fast rights.

“We’ll probably struggle a bit more in the first one, and the last one will be more or less the same.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but we will give our best as a team and as drivers, and we will try to perform in the best way possible.”