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GT World Challenge Europe: Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts defend the overall lead with a win and a podium finish.

Jeff Seabrook 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sunday August 25, 2024

The battle for the title in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS intensified at the penultimate race weekend of the Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours (FRA). BMW M Team WRT drivers Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (both BEL) in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 secured a win and a second-place finish, thereby defending their narrow lead in the overall standings.

Andrea Schwab
BMW Group

Magny-Cours. The battle for the title in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS intensified at the penultimate race weekend of the Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours (FRA). BMW M Team WRT drivers Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (both BEL) in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 secured a win and a second-place finish, thereby defending their narrow lead in the overall standings. BMW M Motorsport teams also celebrated podium finishes in the Silver and Bronze classes. The Sprint Cup season finale will take place from 11^th-13^th October at Barcelona (ESP).

Vanthoor and Weerts demonstrated strong comebacks in both races. On Saturday, they moved up from sixth to second place, which became a win after a post-race time penalty was applied to the first-placed Porsche. On Sunday, they climbed from eighth to second place. In both instances, they had close battles with the #48 Mercedes driven by Lucas Auer (AUT) and Maro Engel (GER). In the end, both duos had a win and a second place to their names, meaning Vanthoor and Weerts could defend their two-point lead in the Sprint Cup driver standings. The same narrow margin separates the two crews in the overall standings combining the Sprint and Endurance Cups.

BMW M works driver Dan Harper (GBR), along with Darren Leung (GBR) in the #991 BMW M4 GT3 from Century Motorsport, finished third in the Bronze Cup in both races. Particularly on Saturday, Harper put on an impressive show, starting from second place and fighting for the lead for a long time during his stint. Ultimately, Leung crossed the finish line first in class, but as Harper had pushed an opponent into the gravel during a duel, the duo received a post-race 10-second penalty and were classified third. Harper and Leung lead the driver standings in the Bronze Cup, just as Calan Williams (AUS) and Sam de Haan (GBR) lead the Silver Cup. The Team WRT duo finished in fifth and third place in the Silver class at Magny-Cours with the #30 BMW M4 GT3.

Comments after the races:

BMW M Motorsport develops new entry-level model for racing for use from the 2026 season.

Jeff Seabrook BMW Motorsport News Tuesday August 20, 2024

Currently, BMW M Motorsport engineers are working on the development of a new car that will complete the portfolio of customer racing cars as an entry-level model into motorsport.

Laura Claesgens
BMW Group

Munich. With the BMW M235i Racing, BMW M240i Racing and BMW M2 CS Racing, at BMW M Motorsport, affordable and technically sophisticated entry-level cars into racing are a tradition. They are the perfect stepping stones to the higher GT4 and GT3 classes. Currently, BMW M Motorsport engineers are working on the development of a new car that will complete the portfolio of customer racing cars as an entry-level model into motorsport.

Nürburgring (GER), 16-18 August 2024. DTM, ADAC Motorsport, Schubert Motorsport, #11 BMW M4 GT3, Marco Wittmann, Schaeffler, #33 BMW M4 GT3, René Rast, RoboMarkets.

DTM Nürburgring: Third victory of the season for Schubert Motorsport – Sheldon van der Linde triumphs.

Jeff Seabrook 2024 DTM Sunday August 18, 2024

Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) celebrated his first win of the season on the fifth DTM race weekend at the Nürburgring (GER). In the #31 Shell BMW M4 GT3, the 2022 DTM Champion crossed the finish line first for the first time since the Norisring 2023. His teammate Marco Wittmann (GER) also reached the podium, finishing third in the #11 Schaeffler BMW M4 GT3.

Laura Claesgens
BMW Group

Nürburgring. Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) celebrated his first win of the season on the fifth DTM race weekend at the Nürburgring (GER). In the #31 Shell BMW M4 GT3, the 2022 DTM Champion crossed the finish line first for the first time since the Norisring 2023. His teammate Marco Wittmann (GER) also reached the podium, finishing third in the #11 Schaeffler BMW M4 GT3. Thanks to the two podium finishes, the team led by Torsten Schubert reclaimed first place in the team standings .

Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) experienced a significant relief after his triumph, especially since he had not advanced beyond 13th position on Saturday. Starting from eighth place, the South African quickly moved up to third during the early stages, then overtook Ricardo Feller (SUI, Audi) in the battle for second place, and later benefited from a spin by the then-leader Maro Engel (GER, Mercedes). Engel collided with van der Linde's teammate René Rast (GER). Rast, coming out of the pits with cold tyres, slid straight on while braking into turn one with his #33 RoboMarkets BMW M4 GT3 and hit the turning Mercedes. A broken rim and a penalty for the accident dropped Rast back to 17th place. He had finished 11th in Saturday's race.

Marco Wittmann had a strong weekend. On Saturday, he coped better with the rainy conditions than his teammates and finished sixth. In Sunday's race, he started third and maintained that position to the finish – his second podium of the year after winning at Zandvoort (NED). Wittmann's crew also completed the fastest pit stop on Sunday with a time of 6.351 seconds.

In the drivers' standings, van der Linde, Rast, and Wittmann are in fourth, fifth, and eighth places respectively after ten of the sixteen races. In the team standings, Schubert Motorsport is now leading with 242 points and a 19-point advantage.

ADAC GT4 Germany: Piana/Schrey win again.

In ADAC GT4 Germany, Gabriele Piana (ITA) and Michael Schrey (GER) continued their impressive run this season. On Sunday, the duo in the #2 BMW M4 GT4 of Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport celebrated their fifth win in the eighth race of the season, further extending their lead in the drivers' standings. On Saturday, Piana and Schrey finished fifth behind the highest-placed BMW M4 GT4, #46 from FK Performance Motorsport in fourth place. Overall, five BMW M4 GT4s finished in the top ten on Saturday, and three on Sunday.

BMW M Motorsport thanks Stefan Reinhold and BMW M Team RMG for 14 years of collaboration.

Jeff Seabrook 2024 DTM Thursday August 8, 2024

BMW M Motorsport and BMW M Team RMG will part ways at the end of the current season. After 14 years together, the collaboration with Team Principal Stefan Reinhold concludes on a high note, a podium at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (GER) for Dan Harper (GBR), Max Hesse (GER), and Charles Weerts (BEL) a few weeks ago.

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Andrea Schwab
BMW Group

Munich. BMW M Motorsport and BMW M Team RMG will part ways at the end of the current season. After 14 years together, the collaboration with Team Principal Stefan Reinhold concludes on a high note, a podium at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (GER) for Dan Harper (GBR), Max Hesse (GER), and Charles Weerts (BEL) a few weeks ago. The greatest joint successes for BMW M Motorsport and BMW M Team RMG were two drivers' championships and one team title in the DTM.