TEAM WRT TO CHASE TOP HONOURS IN ELMS AND ADAC GT MASTERS THIS WEEKEND

TEAM WRT TO CHASE TOP HONOURS IN ELMS AND ADAC GT MASTERS THIS WEEKEND

12/05/2021

The 2021 season is reaching full cruise speed, meaning that Team WRT is now on deck almost every weekend, often coping with double commitments. It will be so next weekend, as the Belgian squad heads to the Red Bull Ring for the second round of the European Le Mans Series and to Oschersleben for the season-opener of the ADAC GT Masters. The objective though is the same: to fight for top honours!

Team Principal Vincent Vosse confirms it: “It’s going to be a busy weekend and we aim at keeping the good momentum of this start of the season. We had a very successful debut in our ELMS campaign, winning straight away at Barcelona. We are not naive to the point to believe that we are already the best, on the contrary... At Barcelona, everything turned into our favour, but we know that the competition is extremely strong and that we still have to work hard to be fighting with the front-runners. It will be tougher at the Red Bull Ring, but we go there to do our best and stay in the race for the championship. The ADAC GT Masters is the last 2021 programme to start, and we hope to carry there the good form of our Audi R8 LMS seen in the GTWCE. We know how high is the level in the series but even with a single car entry, we have a very strong package. The car is competitive and both Charles and Dries have repeatedly proven what they are capable of.”

ELMS

The first full campaign in the European Le Mans Series could not have started better for ORLEN Team WRT. Repeating the Barcelona success will be difficult but the entire WRT team heads to Austria determined to stay in the top positions and in the race for the titles. The Red Bull Ring, the modern 4.318-km reincarnation of Austria’s historic track located in the Styrian village of Spielberg, is a very technical track and the challenge will be to find the best set-up for the Oreca 07 Gibson ahead of the 4-hour race on Sunday. Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye have already proven their talent and their ability to work together and are fully motivated to go for a good result.

Louis Delétraz: “I look forward to the Red Bull Ring, where after winning at Barcelona, the expectations on us will be high, as everyone will be watching us. That’s why we need to stay very motivated, keep focused, and work hard to improve all the little details. We will have to push hard to bring back another great result.”

Robert Kubica: “The Red Bull Ring is completely different from Barcelona, so it will be a new challenge and a continuation of the learning curve for us in the championship. The track has a relatively short lap but it combines heavy-breaking corners with high-speed corners,

mostly in the middle segment, so finding the correct balance will be the challenge. We will give our best and have proven at Barcelona that if put everything together, we can be with the front-runners. That will be again the target and we hope we can deliver.”

Yifei Ye: “We had a dream start to our season in Barcelona, so we will be aiming at another sooth weekend. The goal remains a race win, but as we are in the lead of the championship, we will be racing hard while having a long-term championship winning mindset. The competition remains extremely strong, therefore we will need to keep giving our best. I am very excited to race and fight at Spielberg this weekend.”

European Le Mans Series - Round 2
Red Bull Ring 4 Hours, Austria – 13-16 May 2021

Timetable (CET)

Thursday 13 May 2021
09:00-12:00 Collective test
13:00-17:00 Collective test

Friday 14 May 2021
13:00-14:30 Free Practice 1

Saturday 15 May 2021
10:00-11:30 Free Practice 2
15:30-15:40 Qualifying (LMP2)

Sunday 16 May 2021
11:00-15:00 Race

ORLEN Team WRT entry (Oreca 07 Gibson)
#41 Louis Delétraz (CH) – Robert Kubica (PL) – Yifei Ye (CN)

ADAC GT MASTERS

The 2021 ADAC GT Masters is kicking-off this weekend at Oschersleben, the 3.667-km track in Saxony-Anhalt that hosts the first of the eight two-race rounds scheduled. Around 30 cars are expected to compose the field this year, confirming the series as one of the best-attended and most competitive in Europe. After a positive debut in the series last year, Team WRT is aiming at fighting for the title this year. The Belgian squad is present with only one Audi R8 LMS, but the package is of top quality, with Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor forming the line-up. The two young Belgians need no presentation by now and have proven their competitiveness once again no later than last weekend, taking a win and a runner-up finish in the Magny-Cours round of the GTWCE Sprint Cup.

Dries Vanthoor: “I’m looking forward to a new ADAC GT season. Season-openers are always nice, as everything is still open, let’s see what we can do. It will be important to bring home some good points. The pre-season test a few weeks ago went really well, so we are relatively confident we can fight at the top.”

Charles Weerts: “First race of a championship, it’s the third time this year, so it will be important to start well directly, like we did at Magny-Cours last week. We have a strong car, so let’s go for good results!”

ADAC GT Masters - Round 1
Oschersleben Arena, Germany – 14-16 May 2021

Timetable (CET)

Friday 14 May 2021
10:15-11:25 Free practice 1
15:45-16:55 Free practice 2
Saturday 15 April 2021
11:00-11:20 Qualifying 1
16:30-17:30 Race 1
Sunday 16 May 2021
11:00-11:20 Qualifying 2
16:30-17:30 Race 2

Team WRT entry (Audi R8 LMS)
#32 Dries Vanthoor (BE) – Charles Weerts (BE)