WRT opens new headquarters in Belgium
BMW factory racing partner Team WRT has opened the doors of its huge new state-of-the-art headquarters in Belgium on Tuesday evening with a special inauguration event.
Its new base, which is located in Bierset, near Liège, features 20,475 sqm of working and manufacturing space for 140 employees and all of the Belgian team’s racing and manufacturing activities. It replaces six other sites where race preparation, logistics and construction were previously based, plus the corporate HQ of the Weerts Group, meaning its entire operation is now united in a single location.
It houses the team’s global GT3 and Hypercar racing efforts, with a massive race shop lined with full service bays well into double figures, each occupied by either an M4 GT3 or one of four M Hybrid V8 Hypercars. There is also a dedicated space for pit stop preparation.
Elsewhere on site at the five storey facility, which was built in just over a year, are assembly shops for a variety of WRT engineering contracts.
These include build of the Toyota Supra GT4, TCR and rally machines for Stellantis (Citroen Rally2) and Hyundai (TCR and Rally2). Add to that the areas for the Fun Cup cars, of which over 570 have been delivered.
These include build of the Toyota Supra GT4, TCR and rally machines for Stellantis (Citroen Rally2) and Hyundai (TCR and Rally2). Add to that the areas for the Fun Cup cars, of which over 570 have been delivered.
In total WRT has built/assembled around 120 competition cars per year since 2017 and is approaching 1000 cars built in total. The new facility offers the opportunity for a significant expansion of production capacity.
W Racing Team co-CEOs Kathleen Schurmans and Vincent Vosse were on hand for the grand opening, together with Yves Weerts, CEO of the Weerts Group and around 300 guests.
Among them, Pierre-Yves Jeholet, vice president of the Government of Wallonia, Maurice Mottard, the mayor of Grâce-Hollogne, Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO, FIA WEC CEO Frederic Lequien, François Cornélis, president of the RACB, and Belgian racing legend Jacky Ickx were in attendance.
“Today we materialize a dream and make a great leap into the future,” Vincent Vosse saiz. “Reuniting all the WRT motorsport activities in one single location is something that Yves Weerts and I had in mind for a long time, as we grew constantly over our 15 years of existence, and now it’s a reality.
“The advantages of having everything and everybody in a single location are immense: we can interact and react better and faster, and like in racing, innovating and improving are crucial.
“Regarding racing, we are happy with the great start of the season that we have enjoyed so far together with our great partner BMW, with victories in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bathurst, and Paul Ricard in GT3 racing and podiums in the FIA WEC.
“But we cannot stop working hard, progressing, and fighting for a second. As you know, a win on Sunday is almost forgotten on Monday morning because you need to focus on the next race, and success only adds more pressure.”
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