Season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe: Team WRT and ROWE Racing secure further titles.

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Season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe: Team WRT and ROWE Racing secure further titles.

18.10.2026Press Release

+++ Team WRT wins the overall team championship for the 2026 season. +++ ROWE Racing celebrates the Endurance Cup Gold Cup titles with Ugo de Wilde, Tim Tramnitz and Jens Klingmann.+++ #30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO wins the final Endurance race in the Silver Cup. +++

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Portimão.The BMW M Motorsport teams secured further titles at the
season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS in
Portimão (POR). Team WRT clinched the overall team championship,
combining the results from the Sprint and Endurance races, after
already securing the Sprint Team Championship two weeks ago. Jens
Klingmann, Tim Tramnitz (both GER) and Ugo de Wilde (BEL) are the
new drivers champions in the Gold Cup Endurance standings. Their
ROWE Racing team won the team title in the Endurance Gold Cup. The
final three-hour race also brought another victory and podium
finishes in the individual cups.

For Team WRT, it was the #30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO that sealed the team
championship title. In a dramatic final race, Matisse Lismont, Amaury
Cordeel (both BEL) and Ignacio Montenegro (ARG) crossed the finish
line in an excellent fifth place overall, while also celebrating
victory in the Silver Cup. The crew in the #30 had already secured the
Silver Cup titles in the Sprint, Endurance and combined standings
ahead of the finale.

The Gold Cup also delivered plenty of excitement. Klingmann, Tramnitz
and de Wilde, who had celebrated class victory in the 24 Hours of
Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) over the summer with the #998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO
run by ROWE Racing, arrived in Portimão leading the cup standings. In
the final three-hour race, they went head-to-head with their rivals.
In a thrilling closing phase, Klingmann secured second place on the
Gold Cup podium and, with it, the much-celebrated title.

There was also a podium finish in the Bronze Cup: the #42 BMW M4 GT3
EVO entered by Oman Racing by Century Motorsport finished third. Ahmad
Al Harthy (OMA), Javier Sagrera (ESP) and Calan Williams (AUS) shared
driving duties. Behind them, the Paradine Competition #991 BMW M4 GT3
EVO, driven by Darren Leung, James Kellett (both GBR) and Robert de
Haan (NED), finished fourth in the Bronze Cup.

The Pro cars, meanwhile, faced a number of challenges in Portimão.
The ROWE Racing #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO eventually finished 22nd overall.
Marco Wittmann (GER), Jake Dennis (GBR) and Philipp Eng (AUT) had
worked their way up the field after a difficult qualifying session,
but dropped back following a puncture. The Team WRT #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO
was running sixth after the opening phase when Jordan Pepper (RSA) had
to serve a drive-through penalty for causing a collision. Pepper,
Charles Weerts (BEL) and Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) fought their way
back up the field. However, shortly before the finish, van der Linde
suffered the same fate as Eng in the #98: he was hit by a rival, which
also resulted in a puncture.

The Team WRT #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Valentino Rossi (ITA),
Neil Verhagen (USA) and Max Hesse (GER), suffered a puncture in the
early stages. The trio subsequently retired from the race due to a
mechanical failure.

Reactions after the race.

Vincent Vosse (Team Principal Team WRT): “I’m
thrilled with this 80th title for the team! That’s a great
achievement. Our Silver car has played a huge part in making it
happen. Huge congratulations to them for an exceptional season, both
in sprint and endurance racing. It’s nice to end the season with
another title win. We would also have liked to be more successful in
this race with our Pro cars, but they experienced some issues so on
this side the race was not what we had expected. Congratulations also
to our colleagues at ROWE Racing for winning the Gold Cup.”

Hans-Peter Naundorf (Team Principal ROWE Racing):“It
was a very exciting race to end the season, with a great result. The
drivers and the whole team delivered an outstanding performance. This
was our first season competing in the Gold Cup, and we had a clear
mission. With Jens Klingmann as mentor, alongside Ugo de Wilde and Tim
Tramnitz, we won the season highlight in Spa and have now also secured
the overall title. It couldn’t have gone any better. Everyone involved
can be very proud.”

Matisse Lismont (#30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 5th place and
1st place Silver Cup):“I think this was, once again, one
of our perfect executions this season. We had a bit of luck on our
side too, but this one was very special, especially with P5 overall. I
think it realistically shows that we can fight for the overall
positions and show our speed and pace. We wanted a Silver victory in
Endurance because we hadn’t had one yet, and we achieved that. I’m
super proud of everyone. The car was mega every race weekend, our
engineers and mechanics did a brilliant job. So, a big thank you to
Team WRT for the season, and a big thank you to BMW M Motorsport for
the fantastic car.”

Jens Klingmann (#998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 2nd place
and title win Gold Cup):“Our goal for this season was very
clear: to win the GT World Challenge Gold Cup and the 24 Hours of Spa.
I think we can be really proud that we achieved both. It was an
extremely difficult race, with plenty of ups and downs. At one point,
I thought we were going to win, then I thought we were going to lose.
It was very emotional. We have to say that we weren’t the fastest, but
we were the most consistent throughout the year. We made it happen as
a team. That’s why I’m very proud of the guys.”

Tim Tramnitz (#998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 2nd place and
title win Gold Cup): “I’m really happy. We achieved our
goal for this year. It got very exciting again towards the end, but we
made it through cleanly, had solid pace and were perhaps just a little
smarter than the others in the end.”

Ugo de Wilde (#998 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 2nd place and
title win Gold Cup):“I’m really happy. That was the goal
at the beginning of the season. It hasn’t been easy, honestly, and it
came down to the final minutes of the race. But I’m really happy that
we achieved our goal. It’s been a tough season, but we learned a lot.
It was a very nice project together with Jens and Tim, and finishing
on a high like this feels great before going into the winter season.”

Marco Wittmann (#98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 24th place
overall): “I have mixed feelings. We had an incredibly
difficult qualifying session and started from P35. Then the team and I
did a good job, and at one point we were running sixth or seventh.
Unfortunately, contact with another car that hit us from behind
resulted in a puncture. That ruined our race, and I think a top-five
result would have been possible. Given how qualifying went, that would
have been a huge achievement. All the more reason why I’m happy for
our sister car, which won the Gold Cup. Congratulations to the whole team!”

Jordan Pepper (#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 30th place
overall):“We have to first look at the positives for the
team to get the overall championship. That is a very incredible
achievement for them all, and all the hard work from everyone. So for
that I’m very proud. Unfortunately, on our side though it was just not
the weekend we wanted. We never really managed to get the car where we
wanted to. But at least we remained positive going into the race, had
a really good start, moved all the way up to sixth position. It was
just unfortunately then a mistake from my end, a big apology to
everyone – to the team, to my teammates, to BMW. A small mistake that
was really minor led to a big consequence, which put us on the back
foot. And then from there we were constantly fighting forward, looking
likely to be in the points again, which would have been great. But
then Kelvin got hit by a Ferrari and we got a puncture. Sometimes you
win, sometimes you learn. This year we did both. We had some wins and
we learned a lot.”

Max Hesse (#46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, DNF): “We
had good potential throughout the season, but somehow we never quite
managed to turn it into results. The same happened today: the puncture
on the very first lap dropped us back to P60, and we then fought our
way through the field to P14. Ultimately, however, we had to retire
due to a technical issue, which we now need to analyse. It was also a
shame for car number 32. But thanks to the #30 scoring very strongly
throughout the year – hats off to the guys – the team was able to win
the overall team championship. They definitely deserved it.”

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