The 2018 winners of the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour will return to lead its new marque BMW’s assault on the 2023 edition.
WRT was a long-time factory Audi squad, but changed alliance earlier this season due to the opportunities presented by BMW’s LMDh program.
Committing to a select few Intercontinental GT Challenge events in addition to the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS of which Bathurst marks the start. It will also be the debut for BMW’s newest generation GT3 entry based on the M4, with two set to grace the grid at Bathurst.
“Since the announcement of the partnership with BMW M Motorsport early August, we have relentlessly prepared for this new chapter in Team WRT’s history,” said WRT Team Principal Vincent Vosse.
“New beginnings entail a lot of work as you need to discover, learn and adapt to new cars, new procedures and build new relationships, but everything has run smoothly, we feel tremendously excited and motivated and grateful to BMW M Motorsport for their trust.
“The real challenge is about to start, as one month from now we will be racing for the first time with the BMW M4 GT3 in Dubai before our official debut as BMW M Team WRT in Bathurst one month later.”
Featuring an envious 20-strong driver line-up including international sportscar aces Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann, Augusto Farfus, Jake Dennis and Rene Rast, BMW M Team WRT will be not short on choices for Bathurst.
Team WRT’s entry is not the first to be announced, with this honour going to legendary Porsche squad Manthey Racing, which will partner Australian-based squad EMA Motorsport.
Who will pilot the iconic yellow and green ‘grello’ Porsche 911 GT3R is yet to be announced, although it will be a Pro entry.
Harrolds Volante Rosso Racing was the first local team to confirm its participation in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, but expect Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia, Grove Racing, Triple Eight Race Engineering, Wall Racing and more to enter the once around the clock classic.
It is expected more than 30 GT3 entries will make the trip to the Mountain.
The 2023 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour will take place on February 3-5.