The GT World Challenge Europe season ended this past weekend with a six-hour race on the streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The race was the finale of the Endurance Cup season, with the finale of the Sprint Cup season already having taken place in Barcelona back in October. BMW M Team WRT came up short by a whisker in winning the GT Endurance Cup championship but took home the overall team championship for combined Endurance and Sprint Cup races.
Five M4 GT3s were entered in the Jeddah finale, two from WRT and one each from ROWE Racing, Paradine Competition/Century Motorsport, and OQ by OMAN Racing (which is run by WRT). The WRT and ROWE Racing entries were in the Pro class, while the Paradine Competition/Century Motorsport and OQ by OMAN Racing cars were in the Bronze class.
The #30 OQ By OMAN Racing BMW of Ahmad Al Harthy, Sam De Haan, and Jens Klingmann finished second in the Bronze Cup class.
The BMWs didn’t perform that well in qualifying, which uses the average of the fastest lap of each of the three drivers in the car. The #998 ROWE Racing M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper, and Max Hesse was the fastest in eleventh and was the only BMW in the top twenty. Unfortunately, that car suffered a broken suspension after being hit from behind during a safety car period during the race, and it had to retire. The #991 Paradine Competition/Century Motorsport M4 GT3 of Darren Leung, Jake Dennis, and Toby Sowery also had a DNF after a technical issue.
Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin, and Valentino Rossi finished fifth.
The #32 WRT car of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Charles Weerts qualified in 24th but fought their way up through the field during the race. They were in third with 20 minutes left but had debris in the radiator, forcing Vanthoor to drop back to finish in fourth. The #46 M4 GT3 of Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi, and Raffaele Marciello finished a solid fifth overall. The #30 OQ by OMAN Racing M4 GT3 of Jens Klingmann, Ahmad al Harthy, and Sam De Haan finished second in the Bronze Cup class.
The #998 ROWE Racing, piloted by Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper, and Max Hesse, had a DNF.
In the final tally, BMW M Team WRT fell short of the Endurance Cup title but won the combined team championship for the full season, which includes both the Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup races. “The last 20 minutes were a bit crazy,” said BMW M Team WRT Team Principal Vincent Vosse. “We were fighting for P2, giving us the Overall Drivers and Endurance Teams championships, on top of the Overall Teams’ title. At the end, due to debris we got in the radiator, we had to slow down. We lost three positions and two titles. Anyway, we finished second in the Overall Drivers championship, 2.5 points behind (Mercedes-AMG drivers) Maro Engel and Lucas Auer. Congrats to them. In the end, we are still Overall (Sprint and Endurance) Teams champions, which is a great reward! It was a tough season but a good one.”
BMW M Team WRT celebrates their overall team championship.
The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe season opens on April 11th-13th at Circuit Paul Ricard in France.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO, Michele Scudiero Photography]