WRT Testing Two BMW M4 GT3s at Barcelona on Monday

Team WRT will test a pair of BMW M4 GT3s at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Monday, in preparation for a program with the Munich-based manufacturer next year.

The Belgian squad is set to take part in a track session organized by Curbstone Events, one day after the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season-ending 3 Hours of Barcelona.

Team principal Vincent Vosse told Sportscar365 that the two BMWs will be “WRT cars” rather than factory-supplied, and that they were delivered two weeks ago.

A selection of WRT drivers will get behind the wheel, including former MotoGP star Valentino Rossi who has raced one of the outfit’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs this year.

“On Monday we will discover one of our new tools and toys,” Vosse explained.

“It is just a first, I would call it, rollout. Just to discover our new car and how we could work.

“We have quite a heavy plan of testing [after Barcelona] because it’s something new.

“We need to discover and understand the car. It is something very different from what we know.”

WRT is parting ways with Audi after this weekend’s race, marking the end of a long and decorated partnership that has yielded several titles and major race wins including the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa, the Nürburgring 24 and Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Earlier this year, WRT was gearing up to be the factory squad for Audi’s LMDh car, but the project’s cancelation prompted the team to look elsewhere for its desired involvement in top-level prototype racing.

Vosse’s organization subsequently reached a deal with BMW to operate two factory LMDh cars in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.

When the BMW LMDh partnership was announced, the manufacturer stressed that no decision had been made on whether the two parties would extend their relationship into the customer-based GT3 formula.

However, WRT’s uptake and testing of two M4 GT3s points firmly towards a program with Munich, even though details of series programs have not been officially announced.

Monday’s Curbstone test, which is set to involve other GTWC Europe teams, consists of six 40-minute sessions for GT racing cars.

WRT Could Prioritize Testing Over Gulf 12H

A WRT entry is provisionally signed up for the Gulf 12 Hours, which rounds out the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season on Dec. 11.

This would be the first race for WRT with BMW, however Vosse suggested that the team needs to see how its testing program develops before committing to the event.

“We still need to discuss, but let’s say that today we are more in a situation where we want to prepare ourselves for 2023, instead of jumping into the first race without being ready,” he said.

“We don’t want to underestimate the amount of work we have in front of us.

“We would like to do the Gulf 12 Hours. But I don’t want to be obliged to miss five, six or seven days of testing. So maybe at one stage we will prioritize testing and getting ready.”