By any measure Team WRTs first full season in Endurance was impressive. Not only did they secure the 2021 European Le Mans Series Driver and Team titles at the first attempt, they also secured the 2021 FIA World Endurance LMP2 Championship titles and won the class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, even though they were cruelly robbed of a 1-2 finish on the last lap of the race.
Team WRT, created by Vincent Vosse and Yves Weerts in 2009, has excelled in every category they have entered and their entry into the 2021 ELMS was very welcome.The LMP2 class in the European Le Mans Series features some of the best Endurance teams and drivers and is by far the most competitive.
A single car entry for the no41 Orlen Team WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, driven by the highly experienced Swiss driver Louis Deletraz, young Chinese hotshot Yifei Ye and Polish F1 and WRC legend Robert Kubica, certainly wasn’t there to make up the grid.
The season got off to a great start with victory in Spain on their debut, taking the lead on lap 11 of the race to storm home 22 seconds ahead of the no65 Panis Racing Oreca and 89 seconds ahead of the no22 United Autosports Oreca.Another victory followed at the Red Bull Ring in May, with the no41 Oreca winning a dramatic rain-soaked encounter.
The third race of the season at Le Castellet saw the only non-podium finish for the no41 Orlen Team WRT Oreca, with the car coming home in 5thplace, which was followed by a third-place finish at Monza.
While the 24 Hours of Le Mans is not an ELMS event, it is, of course, the race that all drivers want to win.After 24 Hours of racing the no41 Oreca with Yifei Ye at the wheel, looked set to take the win ahead of the no31 Team WRT Oreca, which was competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
However, there was heartbreak for the Chinese driver as the car stopped on the final lap, less than 12km from the chequered flag.Robin Frijns went on to take the chequered flag for the Belgian team, just 0.7 seconds ahead of the no28 JOTA Oreca.
Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz put the disappointment of Le Mans behind them and set their sights on the ELMS title, bouncing straight back with their third victory of the season at Spa-Francorchamps to secure the Driver and Team titles with one race remaining.
They finished the season in Portimão with a fifth podium position, finishing second behind the no22 United Autosports Oreca, the outgoing championship winning car.
After six races the Louis Deletraz, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Orlen Team WRT had taken three victories, one second and one third place finish and amassed a total of 118 points, 32 points ahead of their nearest rivals.All in their debut season!
