Team WRT team principal Vincent Vosse says that competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a dream that the team has been wishing to fulfill every since it was founded.
The Belgian powerhouse outfit, mostly known for its success in international GT3 competition with Audi, is making its debut in the French endurance classic with a two-car effort in the LMP2 category.
The #31 ORECA 07-Gibson, regularly competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, is driven by Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Robin Frijns.
Meanwhile the #41 car, already a winner in the European Le Mans Series, is piloted by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Louis Deletraz.
The team has expanded its operation into LMP2 competition in preparation for possible LMDh involvement from 2023 and has never competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans previously.
Despite that, Vosse, himself a former racing driver, has said that racing at Le Mans is fulfilling a long-held dream for his team.
“This is the end of a long wait,” said Vosse, who raced at Le Mans five times between 1999 and 2005. “Le Mans has always been a dream, not even secret, for Team WRT since we launched the team.”
“For every motorsport fan, Le Mans means a lot, especially if you are an enthusiast of endurance racing.
“Personally, when I was a driver, it was one of the greatest experiences in my life and now I am terribly happy to come back in another capacity.
“This said, no race commands higher respect than Le Mans. We take our 2021 participation as exploratory, although we always race with ambitions.”
“We know that despite the great preparation, the highly-qualified Le Mans experts we have in our team and the great driver line-ups, we will face a lot of unexpected and we’ll learn a lot. Let’s see how it goes, but being here is already quite something…”
The team is heading into its first Le Mans with a relatively inexperienced line-up in terms of Le Mans appearances.
Between them, the six drivers only hold a combined number of two previous starts while four drivers (Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye) make their Le Mans debuts.
“Very first Le Mans for me, I have never been here, not even as a visitor, so it will be a completely new experience,” said Frijns, one of the drivers making his debut. “Of course, I watched the race a lot of times on TV, I heard a lot about it, I know it’s exciting and never boring.
“I am happy to be part of it, and with the team and team mates I have, we can expect to do well.”
Deletraz sr. to race in Road to Le Mans
While Louis Deletraz is making his second start at Le Mans after last year’s debut with Rebellion Racing, his father Jean-Denis Deletraz is also on hand to race at Le Mans this weekend.
The elder Deletraz, who last competed in the twice-around-the-clock enduro in 2012, will be driving one of the two Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos that the team has entered into the Road to Le Mans support races.
He will be teaming up with reigning GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup champion Charles Weerts.
“After taking part in the development of the first Audi R8 GT3 in 2009, I am looking forward to give a go to the latest version of the car and see how it has evolved,” said Deletraz. “I want to say a big thank you to Team WRT for their offer and trust in me.
“It’s a pleasure for me to drive again on this mythical track and together with such a prestigious team. I’m counting on my young and talented teammate Charles to teach me all the secrets of this Audi R8!”
The Road to Le Mans races, part of the support bill for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, form part of the Michelin Le Mans Cup series.
It features two races: one on Friday night from 19:30 to 20:25 local time, and a second prior on Saturday from 12:15 to 13:10.
