Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde secured a commanding victory in the No. 32 Team WRT BMW during the sunset race at Misano. The Belgian-South African pairing, driving the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, prevailed in a dramatic Sprint Cup contest and now shares the lead of the championship standings.

Safety Car intervention immediately after Saturday’s start

Starting fourth on the grid from the second row, Charles Weerts quickly moved the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo to the front as a fierce three-way battle unfolded for the race lead. The situation escalated when Valentino Rossi, driving the No. 46 WRT BMW, made contact with the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R. An Audi then spun across the track, and Weerts capitalized on the chaos to take over the lead.

Following the safety car restart, Weerts led the field ahead of two Mercedes-AMG entries, while teammate Valentino Rossi held fourth place in the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo.

Further back, the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R was engaged in several hard-fought battles to stay within striking distance of the leaders. During the pit stop sequence, Kelvin van der Linde took over the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo from Weerts and rejoined the race still in the lead.

The Lionspeed GP pit crew also delivered an outstanding performance. A flawless stop enabled the No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R to gain a position and subsequently move into second place by the narrowest of margins.

A late Full-Course Yellow neutralized the field and erased the gaps. Nevertheless, Kelvin van der Linde maintained control at the front and guided the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo to a convincing victory.

Behind him, Bastian Buus secured second place in the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo entries finished fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth. A strong recovery drive by Max Hesse helped the No. 46 BMW cross the finish line in sixth place.

The No. 31 BMW, shared by Jordan Pepper and Amaury Cordeel, finished seventh, while Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont rounded out the top ten in the No. 30 Team WRT BMW.

Second victory in Sunday’s race at Misano

Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde completed a flawless weekend in the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo. After winning on Saturday, they returned to the top step of the podium on Sunday in the second Sprint Cup race at Misano, extending their advantage in the championship standings.

From the opening lap, Kelvin van der Linde tucked into the slipstream of the race leader and remained within striking distance throughout his stint.

Behind him, teammate Max Hesse, driving the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, stayed close and applied constant pressure.

Race decided in the pit lane

Team WRT once again executed a superb pit stop, allowing Charles Weerts to emerge in the lead aboard the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Valentino Rossi then took over the No. 46 BMW and rejoined the race in third position.

While Weerts controlled the race and secured Team WRT’s second victory of the weekend, Rossi lost a position in the closing stages and crossed the finish line fourth.

It was a near-perfect weekend for BMW’s customer racing program, highlighted by two victories for the No. 32 Team WRT entry. As a result, Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde leave Misano at the top of the championship standings.

The new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 also continues its GT World Challenge campaign, although the model has yet to secure a top-10 finish in its debut season. On Saturday, the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini finished eleventh overall. On Sunday, the No. 163 VSR Lamborghini narrowly missed out on the top ten as well, taking twelfth place.

Photos: BMW M Motorsport, event organizers, Gruppe C Photography