GT World Challenge Europe: BMW M Team WRT secures a podium finish at Hockenheim in the Sprint Cup.

Hockenheim. The BMW M Team WRT secured another podium finish during the third race weekend of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (GTWC) Sprint Cup at the Hockenheimring (GER). Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (both BEL) finished third in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 in the Saturday race. On Sunday, they secured fifth place. Valentino Rossi (ITA) and Maxime Martin (BEL) pulled off a spectacular comeback on Saturday in car #46, starting from 35th place and finishing in eighth position. On Sunday, they finished seventh. 

Even though no BMW M4 GT3 managed to break into the top three in the Sunday race at Hockenheim for the first time this Sprint Cup season, both driver pairings collected crucial points in the overall standings despite challenging prerequisites compared to some competitors. Vanthoor and Weerts are currently in third place in the standings after six out of ten races, while Rossi and Martin are in fifth place.

In the Gold Cup, Niklas Krütten (GER) and Calan Williams (AUS) celebrated a class victory on Saturday with the #30 BMW M4 GT3. However, a tyre issue early in the race on Sunday set them back, and they couldn't achieve more than fourth place in the Gold Cup. Nevertheless, they lead the driver standings in their category. Thomas Neubauer and Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (both FRA) finished eleventh in both races in the #31 BMW M4 GT3.

Reactions after the races:

Dries Vanthoor (#32 BMW M4 GT3): “Despite the podium, the weekend was overall rather disappointing, to be honest. The good thing is that we collected as many points as possible. Unfortunately, we didn't have the pace to compete for the win against the others. Hopefully, we'll do better next time!”

Charles Weerts (#32 BMW M4 GT3): “We managed to secure a podium and a fifth-place finish here, even though we didn't have the pace of some of our competitors throughout the weekend. The team did an outstanding job, making the most of the opportunities available to us here and keeping our championship hopes alive.”

Valentino Rossi (#46 BMW M4 GT3): “We struggled more here than at Brands Hatch and Misano. Tyre wear, in particular, was a challenge for us. Nonetheless, we were able to collect good points with the eighth and seventh places. We had a fantastic comeback on Saturday. On Sunday, we had higher expectations, but especially in the second half of the race, it was challenging to maintain our pace. Nevertheless, all in all, it wasn't too bad.”

Maxime Martin (#46 BMW M4 GT3): “Getting into the top ten in both races is a solid result. The Saturday race, going from 35th to eighth, was particularly spectacular. You don't expect such a comeback beforehand. On Sunday, we started seventh and finished seventh. There was certainly more potential, especially after my strong start where I was third. However, we had a minor issue during the pit stop that cost us some time. Additionally, it appears we had some difficulty maintaining our speed over the race distance compared to the competition.”