BMW banking on Weerts for IGTC drivers’ championship glory at Indy

Charles Weerts will spearhead BMW’s Intercontinental GT Challenge title assault next weekend when Team WRT’s two factory-backed entries tackle the season closing Indianapolis 8 Hour Presented by AWS (October 3-5).

The Belgian scored maximum IGTC points last time out at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and now lies second in the standings behind Porsche duo Laurens Vanthoor and Ayhancan Guven.

Vanthoor has already confirmed he will not be at Indy, while Guven is not scheduled to race in the Pro category. Both of those factors will play into the hands of Weerts, who lies just seven points behind.

He shares the #31 M4 GT3 with last year’s Indy winners Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor. They can no longer win the drivers’ title as a result of partnering their regular Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS co-driver.

BMW does have a second opportunity, however, in the shape of Dan Harper and Max Hesse. They lie fourth in the standings and 14 points behind Porsche’s leading duo.

Both factory drivers compete with ROWE Racing in Fanatec GT Europe. But while the team surroundings might be changing next weekend, their usual Endurance Cup co-driver Augusto Farfus remains alongside them at the 8 Hour – an event he won en route to the IGTC drivers’ crown in 2020.

Porsche’s lack of Pro entries is also good news for BMW’s manufacturers’ championship hopes. It heads to the Brickyard 16 points behind but with the potential to score 43 for finishing one-two.

That result is not solely dependent on WRT, either. A further five ‘local’ Fanatec GT America BMWs – two run by ST Racing and one each from Turner Motorsport, Random Vandals Racing, and Flying Lizard Motorsports – are also eligible to score IGTC points on their manufacturer’s behalf.

“We have the best memories of the Indianapolis 8 Hour. Last year, and also in 2020, BMW M Motorsport was able to celebrate victory at the legendary Motorsport Speedway,” said Head of BMW M Motorsport, Andreas Roos. “As the defending champions, Team WRT is once again at the start with a very strong line-up of BMW M works drivers. We have selected the driver pairings in such a way that we have the best possible chance of influencing the title decision for the drivers’ standings in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, in addition to the manufacturers’ standings.

“Furthermore, I am pleased to see an impressive lineup of cars from our North American customer teams. Five BMW M4 GT3s in the starting field of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America shows how popular our GT3 flagship is worldwide. It is an honour for us to support these teams with BMW M works drivers at their season highlight.”