Team WRT boss Vincent Vosse says his team is still on a learning curve in its debut WEC season, even as it goes into the final round of the championship leading the LMP2 standings.
The Belgian powerhouse operation took part in its first full season in LMP2 competition this year, after years of successful racing in various GT3 chaW
In its first full season in LMP2, it took part in both the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship. It has thus far taken the LMP2 title in the ELMS and was on track for an one-two finish at Le Mans until one of its cars broke down on the final lap. It also leads the LMP2 championship in WEC with only the Eight Hours of Bahrain yet to be contested.
Despite the team’s very successful maiden season in LMP2 racing, Vosse says that Team WRT is still in a learning process and is making steps weekend by weekend.
“We are still on a learning curve, I would say,” Vosse told MotorsportWeek.com. “We are still progressing weekend after weekend. We did probably our strongest race last weekend.
“We did race like that in the past but something went wrong at one stage. Monza was one of them, where we were in front and then we made quite a big mistake in terms of strategy, which is part of the learning process.”
The team that is now active in ELMS and WEC is the remnant of the operation that the team ran for two years in the DTM series. Despite the team’s high level of success and preparation in other series, Vosse says that the team had to adapt to prototype racing to the unknown world of endurance prototype racing.
“We did not know exactly what to expect,” Vosse said. “We know we would do well, in terms of what we are capable to do. We proved that before when we entered WTCR or DTM, or something completely new which has nothing to do with what we do normally.
“Obviously, the LMP2 team of today was born in the DTM program. It was put together for the 2019 season. We had to adapt a little bit as we are now running one car per program and the last DTM year we did three cars.”
“We did not know what to expect, because we know that we will be capable to reach a good level, but we did not know the level of the others.”
“We also have, and this is a big part of the success, we have six very strong drivers, very committed to the program, who bring us to the front quickly. This was an important important stage of the process.”
Team WRT’s debut season arguably peaked during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, when a dominant display left he team seemingly clear for a debut one-two until Yifei Ye’s #41 ORECA 07-Gibson failed on the final lap of the race. The team still went on to win the race, as the #31 car only barely held off the storming #28 JOTA at the line.
“One of the big challenges was that we are running one car in the ELMS, one car in WEC and then we had to run two cars in Le Mans,” the racer-turned-team principal said. “Which we did with quite some good success, almost very good success. We still got the win, we should not forget that. We will never forget the fact that we lost one car in the last lap but we could not do much about it.”
The LMP2 title in WEC remains yet to be decided. Team WRT leads the points standings by five points over the #28 JOTA, with 38 points still up for grabs. While there is a good chance that the team leaves Bahrain as LMP2 champions, Vosse says it will not impact his feeling of the team’s season if the title challenge falls apart in the final race.
“We have had a very successful LMP2 rookie year. Very, very successful, whatever happens. I would never be disappointed, whatever happens this weekend. We will be disappointed for a while and then we will think back about everything we have achieved.
“Remember that the 13th of January, we had no clue that we would do LMP2. So at the end, quite an achievement from the guys. Every person which is involved in the program has given everything they’ve got. This was the most important to me, and it is the most important to me.
“Looking back at races, it’s only good to report it, put it on paper and make sure not to do the same kind of mistakes the year after. But that’s it.”
