The first weekend of March 2024 is a weekend to remember for us! For the first time, KW automotive is active in the top class of long-distance racing with our KW Racing suspensions. Our motorsport customers are celebrating a successful debut in the FIA WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship).

With the IMSA series elevating the GT3 class to professional status, GT3 race cars can now also start in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) races this season.

These include the Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 Evo, BMW M4 GT3, and Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) customer racing cars, which are homologized with our KW V6 Racing dampers.

KW continues its success in GT3 with Aston Martin, BMW, and Porsche, and expands its motorsport presence by partnering with Lamborghini Squadra Corse as the official technology partner for the Lamborghini SC63 and damper supplier for the Iron Lynx factory team for the Lamborghini SC63 this season.

In Qatar, the Lamborghini SC63 Hybrid Hypercar had its first official racing debut, and our technology partner is very pleased with the start. In the first year of operation of the new LMDh race car (#63 Le Mans-Daytona hybrid race car), the Lamborghini team aimed to prove that turning a vision into reality and seeing the checkered flag in one of the toughest championships in the world was achievable.

The Lamborghini Iron Lynx team, with its drivers Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara, and Daniil Kvyat, managed to achieve it despite strong competition from long-standing WEC and LMDh teams.

After 330 laps, the Lamborghini SC63 crossed the finish line in 14th place overall out of 37. Mission accomplished.

First time in WEC and straight onto the podium in LMGT3!

In the LMGT3 class, our motorsport customers’ six GT3 race cars were extremely successful. After ten hours, Klaus Bachler crossed the finish line as the winner of the new GT class in the 911 GT3 R from Manthey PureRacing (#92). He shared the cockpit with Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm.

In second and third places were the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (#27; driven by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas) from the “Heart of Racing Team” and D’Station Racing (#777; driven by Clément Mateu, Erwan Bastard, and Marco Sorenson).

In fourth place came the first BMW M4 GT3 (#46) of the BMW M Team WRT, and Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin, and Ahmad Al Harthy narrowly missed the podium by just a few seconds.

In the LMGT3 class, the sixth position was secured by the second BMW M Team WRT M4 GT3 (#31) with BMW-M drivers Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael, and Darren Leung.

The Manthey-EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91) had a lot of bad luck in the race. For much of the race, after its charge from starting position 13, it was among the leaders and jointly led the LMGT3 field with the Manthey PureRxcing 911.

The #91 Porsche was forced into an early pit stop around mid-race for repairs due to electronic throttle control issues. Returning to the field, 13 laps behind the leaders, they battled back to finish 15th with Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring, and Yasser Shahin behind the wheel. The WEC season continues on April 21st with the 6-hour race in Imola.

Photos: BMW M Motorsport, Aston Martin AMR, Lamborghini Squadra Corse, Manthey Racing