Should the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli ever decide to emulate the Hungaroring by naming some of its corners in honor of drivers that furthered their claims to greatness on its tarmac, then it could do worse than single out Charles Weerts. The BMW factory driver’s double victory at last month’s GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup meeting took his tally of wins at the Italian circuit to ten and broke a significant record in the process.
A controlled victory in Misano’s day-into-night opener alongside Kelvin van der Linde meant Weerts, already a four-time series champion, surpassed his former co-driver Dries Vanthoor to become the all-time most successful driver in the championship that began in its current form as the FIA GT Series in 2013.
Then in Race 2 WRT’s pit crew turned their No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO around faster than the Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which van der Linde had followed into the pits, and Weerts did the rest to secure Sprint Cup victory number 20.
The understated Belgian has gradually established himself as a GT3 benchmark with little by way of noise. Having no presence on X, he prefers instead to let his results to do the talking.
A winner of at least one race in every season he has contested the Sprint Cup (12 aboard WRT’s Audi R8 LMS Evo and Evo II, eight in a BMW), the 2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge champion has plenty of time on his side to add more accolades to a CV that many would justifiably envy.
The 25-year-old also holds records as the youngest Sprint Cup race winner (18) and champion (19), as well as the most podiums (44 to date) and titles. With his and van der Linde’s Sprint Cup points lead still narrowly intact despite a weekend to forget at Magny-Cours, there is every chance that Weerts will be in contention for a record-extending fifth championship when the current season concludes in October at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.
Although Weerts showed promise in single-seaters, beating the likes of Liam Lawson and Frederik Vesti to claim a maiden ADAC Formula 4 victory at Hockenheim in 2018, it was no surprise to Pierre Dieudonne that his true calling should be in GTs. The WRT sporting director and two-time winner of the Spa 24 Hours as a driver has known Weerts since his childhood, having joined the team co-founded by Weerts’ entrepreneur father Yves in 2011.