Team WRT (Marciello-van der Linde-Weerts) crushes the Suzuka 1 Km

Already victorious in 2019, the Belgian team remains the benchmark in this Japanese round with a pole-victory combo signed by the BMW M4 GT3 n°32. Kévin Estre and Patrick Pilet (Porsche) finished 2nd.

Team WRT was the best team at the 1 Suzuka 000km, without a shadow of a doubt. The Belgian team had the luxury of dominating the Japanese event, which is back on the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar (IGTC) for the first time since 2019.

Already on pole position on Saturday, the BMW M4 GT3 shared by Charles Weerts, Raffaele Marciello and Kelvin van der Linde led for most of the race. The German firm thus increased its lead in the IGTC championship, its direct rival, Mercedes Benz-AMG, could only manage 7th place due to a delayed pit stop tactic for Maxime Martin, Luca Stolz and Mickaël Grenier.

The race was animated by several battles involving the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The German manufacturer had to settle for 2nd place with the Franco-Belgian trio of Kévin Estre, Patrick Pilet and Laurens Vanthoor, who wore a livery paying homage to the victorious Porsche 956 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1984.

Lap 1 ➡️ Lap 64#IGTC (I.e. #Suzuka1000km pic.twitter.com/P1zltOMW4c

— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) September 14, 2025

Noteworthy was the podium finish of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R from the Johor Motorsports JMR team. Alexander Sims, Nicky Catsburg, and Scott McLaughlin held off the Porsche of Richard Lietz, Loek Hartog, and Antares Au at the finish.

Hartog vs Catsburg for third… not this time!

🇬🇧 https://t.co/onDZ8Odkx1
🇯🇵 https://t.co/6G4FwFeBjV #IGTC (I.e. #Suzuka1000km pic.twitter.com/Izv8MrTVG5

— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) September 14, 2025