Dries Vanthoor: "We are experiencing a golden era"
Dries Vanthoor on the upcoming TotalEnergues 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and reflects on its debut season in the Hypercar class with BMW M Team WRT so far.
As a Belgian racing driver representing the leading Belgian racing team, BMW M Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor is sure to attract local support next week when the FIA WEC plateau will take on Spa-Francorchamps for round three of the season (9-11 May).
“I already got a lot of tickets I have to arrange now!”, laughs Dries. “For sure, this will be special. It’s always a nice feeling when you have friends and family at your home race.”
The younger brother of Porsche Penske’s Laurens Vanthoor honed his craft in GT and LMP2 racing before being given the opportunity to compete at the pinnacle of endurance with Team WRT, for which Dries has been racing since 2016. “It is a second home for me. I feel at home when I arrive in the office or in the box. Everybody knows me and I know everyone. I have a really special bond with Vincent (Vosse, Team WRT’s co-founder and Team Principal) and everybody around WRT. Vincent is also my manager and like a father to me.”
On the back of their 2023 FIA WEC LMP2 title win, Team WRT are running a pair of BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercars for the German carmaker’s long-awaited return in the FIA WEC’s premier class. “I really do feel comfortable with the car. The car is doing better as we go through the tests, so it’s a positive feeling. We also have to be realistic and improve during the races, which we are doing at the moment. It’s our first season, so not everything goes well. Otherwise, life would be easy.”
“We have to take this season as a testing”
Life certainly was not easy for Dries’ No. 15 BMW, and for his teammates Marco Wittmann and Raffaele Marciello, during the 6 Hours of Imola. The team lost all hope of a result, and some bodywork, after a first-lap incident. “I had a bit of a part on that one, considering my mistake in qualifying made us start in the back. It can always go wrong. Marco could not have done anything different.”
Still, round 2 of the FIA WEC was far from a write-off for BMW M Team WRT. The No. 20 M Hybrid V8, entrusted to René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde, finished a remarkable sixth. The German-Belgian outfit are fourth in the Hypercar constuctor’s championship standings. “We have a lot of positives to take”, adds Dries. “At one stage, the No. 20 car was contending for P3. We have a lot of work to do, but it’s nice to see that it’s going in the right way for everyone who’s working tirelessly.”
Dries, who turned 26 during Imola, believes BMW M Team WRT could consider the 2024 FIA WEC season as a successful one should they manage to bring the fight to the leading teams. “For sure, we are not yet happy of where we are but if, at the end of the season, we can be close to Porsche and Ferrari, we can be very happy with the work we did. We have to take this season as a testing to be able to fight for next year. Porsche had a learning season as well last year. They did a lot of work, a lot of testing and they improved significantly. And now, they are leading. It just takes time.”
The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will be the final round before June’s season-defining 24 Hours of Le Mans, where both Dries and Team WRT have winning experience. The Belgian racing driver took home the GTE Am class win in 2017 and the team won the LMP2 class in 2021. “Winning Le Mans is a nice feeling but I’ve never competed here at the highest level. Everybody is excited to go to Le Mans. It has been a long time BMW haven’t been at Le Mans.” 2024 will mark the 25th anniversary of the German constructor’s win at La Sarthe with the V12 LMR No. 15 entrusted to Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini and Yannick Dalmas.
Will another BMW No. 15 win the greatest endurance race in the world? Dries Vanthoor is adamant that Le Mans, like this season’s FIA WEC rounds, will be a hard-fought battle, given the extreme levels of competition on display. “All the drivers are either ex-F1 drivers or very high-level endurance racers. And it’s not only the drivers. When you look at all the brands taking part, developing their cars and fighting to win every race… There are a lot of people coming to the races as well. We are experiencing a golden era. Hopefully, we can keep that up for as long as possible!”
