WRT Reveals Driver Lineups for Multi-Car Audi Program

The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT has revealed the driver lineups for this year’s combined Blancpain GT Series attack, as earlier this month it was announced that the team will enter four cars in the series.

The busiest program will be the Sprint Series, with four full-season entries. Laurens Vanthoor and Stéphane Ortelli will no longer be co-drivers, as the 2013 FIA GT Series champions both get a new teammates this season.

Vanthoor is designated to the No. 1 Audi, which he will share with César Ramos. The 24-year old Brazilian already made his mark in GT racing last year after winning the season opener of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza and being in the title hunt until the final round with the No. 44 Kessel Racing Ferrari.

The second car sees the return of Enzo Ide, who gets René Rast as his teammate, the Belgian having finished third in the 2011 FIA GT3 championship with WRT and leaves Phoenix Racing after just one season.

Ortelli will race the No. 3 Audi under the G-Drive Racing banner together with Roman Rusinov. The same car will also race at the Nürburgring 24 Hours with Edward Sandström and a fourth driver.

The No. 4 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be driven by newcomers Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski, the young French-Polish duo who will compete for the Silver Cup.

In the Endurance Series, Vanthoor and Ramos will get reinforcement from 2012 FIA GT1 World Champion Marc Basseng, while the No. 3 car sees Audi regulars Christopher Mies and Frank Stippler share the car with newcomer James Nash, who earned his stripes in touring car racing.

For the first time, the Vincent Vosse-led squad will enter a car in the Gentlemen Trophy, the crew on the Audi No. 4 will exist of Jean-Luc Blanchemain, Christian Kelders and co-founder Yves Weerts.

An additional car will be entered for the 24 Hours of Spa, only the driver lineups of cars No. 3 and 4 will remain identical, while the composition on the other two entries are still to be announced.

“A lot has changed in the driver lineups and because we believe in the philosophy of mixing up youth with experience, it makes the arrival of young and talented people very intriguing,”said Vosse.

“With what we have achieved during the first four years, we now have an excellent foundation to build on, and I can only be satisfied with the growing interest of drivers, sponsors and partners.”

Blancpain Sprint Series

No. 1 Laurens Vanthoor (B) – César Ramos (BR)
No. 2 René Rast (D) – Enzo Ide (B)
No. 3 Roman Rusinov (RU) – Stéphane Ortelli (MC) (G-Drive Racing)
No. 4 Vincent Abril (F) – Mateusz Lisowski (PL) (Silver Cup)

Blancpain Endurance Series*

No. 1 Laurens Vanthoor (B) – Marc Basseng (D) – César Ramos (BR) (Pro)
No. 3 Christopher Mies (D) – Frank Stippler (D) – James Nash (GB) (Pro)
No. 4 Yves Weerts (B) – Jean-Luc Blanchemain (F) – Christian Kelders (B) (Gent.)

Nürburgring 24 Hours 

Stéphane Ortelli (MC) – Edward Sandström (S) – Roman Rusinov (RU)- TBA

Total 24 Hours of Spa

No. 1 TBA
No. 2 TBA
No. 3 Christopher Mies (D) – Frank Stippler (D) – James Nash (GB) (Pro)
No. 4 Yves Weerts (B) – Jean-Luc Blanchemain (F) – Christian Kelders (B) (Gent.)