Dries Vanthoor (born 20 April 1998 in

Heusden-Zolder Heusden-Zolder (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian Limburg (Belgium), province of Limburg near Hasselt. On 1 January 2006 Heusden-Zolder had a total population of 30,769. The total area is 53.23 ...

) is a racing driver from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

who currently competes in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

with BMW M Team WRT. In his previous role as an Audi factory driver, Vanthoor amassed multiple accolades, winning the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hours and 2019 24 Hours of Nürburgring, as well as taking three consecutive titles in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup from 2020 to 2022 alongside

Charles Weerts Charles Weerts (born 1 March 2001) is a Belgian racing driver who currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe. On December 8 2022 Weerts was announced as a factory driver for BMW Motorsport, BMW M Motorsport where he'll continue to drive ...

. He is the younger brother of

Laurens Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgium, Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche in motorsport, Porsche Motorsport as a Factory-backed, factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He currently reside ...

, a

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

factory driver.

Early career

Vanthoor began his career in karting, a discipline he remained in until 2014. In 2015, the Belgian stepped up to junior formula, driving in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup as part of

Josef Kaufmann Racing Josef Kaufmann Racing is a motorsport team from Germany. It mainly operates in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 as well as Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. The team was founded in 1982. History In 1982, Josef Kaufmann Racing was founde ...

. With a win at

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

and a third place at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

, Vanthoor ended up sixth in the standings.

GT career (2016–23)

2016

For the 2016 season, Vanthoor switched to sportscar racing, where he would perform double duties in the

Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

and GT Series Sprint Cup for

Team WRT W Racing Team (known as Team WRT) is a Belgium, Belgian auto racing team founded in 2009 by engineer and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist, racing driver Vincent Vosse, and entrepreneur Yves Weerts. Between 2010 and 2022 the team ...

, partnering

Frédéric Vervisch Frédéric Vervisch ( ; born 10 August 1986 in Kortrijk) is a Belgian racing driver who currently races in the GT World Challenge Europe. Career Early career A winner of numerous karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline ...

in both series and being joined by brother

in the former championship. During the year, the rookie scored a pair of second places in the Endurance Cup, leading to an eighth place overall, though he and Vervisch would miss out on podiums in the Sprint Cup. In May, Vanthoor took part in the

24 Hours of Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky i ...

, which he won whilst driving with Bonk Motorsport in the Cup 5 class.

2017

The following year, Vanthoor continued with the Belgian team in both categories. In the Endurance Cup, he and Marcel Fässler experienced an unlucky season, retiring from four of the five events, though they would have more fortune in the Sprint Cup, where a pair of victories at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtai ...

and another podium in Germany resulted in a fifth place overall at year's end. However, it was the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

which brought glory to Vanthoor that season, as he won the LMGTE Am class for JMW Motorsport together with Endurance Cup teammate

Will Stevens William Jonathan Richard Stevens (born 28 June 1991) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota Sport, Jota. Stevens competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance ...

and amateur driver Robert Smith. After the season concluded,

Audi Sport {{Commons category, World Rally Championship teams Teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of ...

announced that Vanthoor would become a factory driver from 2018 onwards.

2018

At the beginning of 2018, Vanthoor claimed honours at the Bathurst 12 Hours, winning alongside

Robin Frijns Robin Christiaan Maria Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch racing driver. He most recently raced in Formula E with Envision Racing, and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Team WRT as part of the BMW in motorsport, BMW factory driver l ...

and Stuart Leonard. Another year of double duties came that season, as Vanthoor partnered Stevens in the Sprint Cup, meanwhile his Endurance Cup teammates would be Christopher Mies and Alex Riberas. The latter campaign began with a bang; the trio coming out victorious at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

after Vanthoor overtook Christian Engelhart and Maximilian Götz during the final hour. However, the squad ended up finishing seventh after they failed to score any further podiums that year. In the Sprint Cup, Vanthoor and Stevens took home a fourth place in the standings after achieving four podiums, including a win at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

. Vanthoor also competed in the

ADAC GT Masters The ADAC GT Masters is a grand tourer-based auto racing series founded by the international Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and supported by the German ADAC automotive club. Similar to an earlier ADAC GT Cup series in the 1990s, the new GT ...

that season, though he and Florian Spengler were unable to surpass a season-best eighth-placed race finish with the newly formed EFP by TECE team.

2019

Audi and WRT remained Vanthoor's partners for the 2019 season, where he would compete in the

Endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, forbearance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness, perseverance, stamina, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a ...

and Sprint series, as well as racing for Montaplast by Land-Motorsport in the GT Masters. The Belgian took three wins during the season: one in the ADAC GT Masters at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

alongside Ricardo Feller, another during the Sprint Cup round at Misano where he partnered

, and an overall victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, one Vanthoor and teammates

Pierre Kaffer Pierre Kaffer (born 7 November 1976 in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a race car driver from Germany, currently living in Switzerland. Career In 1990, Kaffer started in Kart racing, Karting, moving in 1994 to Formula Ford, late ...

, Frank Stippler, and Fréd Vervisch achieved with Team Phoenix.

2020

During a year heavily affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Vanthoor partnered

in the youngster's sophomore season of sportscar racing. The pair proved to be a fruitful one in the newly rebranded GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, where they won the championship after winning two races and achieving three further podiums. They also drove in the

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by Stéphane Ratel Or ...

, where two fourth places came to be their highest results. In addition, Vanthoor returned to the

with WRT, where he and Weerts won at the season-opening

Lausitzring The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bord ...

round, leading from start to finish after Vanthoor had scored his first pole position in the category.

2021

In 2021, Vanthoor and Weerts, who had gained Audi factory driver status over the winter, returned to contest a double campaign in the

and Sprint cups. A dominant title defense in the Sprint Cup followed, as the Belgians won the title with one event to spare, having taken four wins including a weekend sweep at Misano. Their Endurance Cup season saw Vanthoor and Weerts embroiled in a four-way championship battle, with the duo scoring second places at Le Castellet, where Vanthoor passed

Marco Mapelli Marco Mapelli (born 1 August 1987 in Seregno, Italy) is an Italian racing driver. He is part of the Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of lu ...

on the final lap, and the 24 Hours of Spa, a race in which Vanthoor narrowly lost out on victory to

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

factory driver Alessandro Pier Guidi. WRT ended up third overall in the standings, as a podium in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

was not enough to overhaul the Iron Lynx squad which finished four points ahead.

2022

Going into 2022, the Vanthoor-WRT partnership remained in the

and Sprint cups for a seventh successive season together, as he and Weerts attempted to defend their Sprint Cup championship again. The Sprint Cup campaign turned out to be their best yet: Vanthoor and Weerts won five of the ten races, took another double at Misano and only missed out on the podium once. The pair won the title at the final round in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, becoming the most successful pairing in the series's history. In the Endurance Cup, less success would be found, as Vanthoor and Weerts finished eighth overall despite winning the opening round in

Imola Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...

and scoring two pole positions. Vanthoor also garnered a win at the 6 Hours of Fuji alongside

and Sean Gelael as part of WRT's LMP2 lineup, where he, replacing

René Rast René Rast (; born 26 October 1986) is a Germans, German professional racing driver and the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2017, 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2019 and 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2020 DTM champion. He last compete ...

, had made his second start in an

Oreca 07 The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayt ...

prototype, having competed with the team's third

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

entry earlier in the year. In addition, Vanthoor won the

with Team Phoenix, having come out unscathed in a collision with his brother Laurens earlier in the race. At the end of the season, both Vanthoor and Weerts left Audi, soon announcing their moves to the

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

factory lineup.

2023

The 2023 season would be Vanthoor's first sportscar campaign without driving a GT3 variant of the

Audi R8 The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. Production ended in the first quarter of 2024. The car is ...

, as his and WRT's

and Sprint cup campaigns would be contested with a BMW M4 GT3. Having defended his 2022 win of the Dubai 24 Hours at the start of the year, the Belgian entered the Sprint Cup together with Weerts and was joined by

Sheldon van der Linde Sheldon van der Linde (born 13 May 1999) is a South African motor racing driver. He has been competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2019, winning his maiden title in 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Maste ...

for the Endurance Cup. The latter played out in a disappointing manner, as retirements at Paul Ricard and

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

resulted in the trio placing eleventh by season's end. Vanthoor and Weerts would fare better in the Sprint Cup, where they won at Valencia and collected five further podiums to end the year third in points.

Hypercar career (2024–)

2024

Ahead of the 2024 season, Vanthoor was confirmed to be joining the WRT-run BMW Hypercar programme, driving a BMW M Hybrid V8 in the

. Vanthoor shared driving duties in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 with Marco Wittmann and Raffaele Marciello. At the

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans The 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans () was an Endurance racing (motorsport), automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each racing Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Group GT3, Le Mans Grand Touring Car (LMGT3) cars held from 15 to 16 June 2024 ...

, Vanthoor managed to put the BMW on pole of the regular qualifying session. He subsequently participated to the Hyperpole, which included the 8 fastest cars from qualifying. Vanthoor crashed the car during the latter stages of the session meaning the car would start in 6th position. During the race, the car was trying to climb back after an early setback when Vanthoor went off due to contact with the race leading Ferrari driven by

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...

, which was later penalised for the contact. At the

2024 6 Hours of Fuji The 2024 6 Hours of Fuji was an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Sports car racing, sportscar racing event held on 15 September 2024, as the seventh of eight rounds of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the eleventh running ...

, Vanthoor and teammates Marciello and Wittmann took the M Hybrid to its first podium in FIA WEC, finishing in 2nd with the #15 after Vanthoor qualified in 3rd with the car.

2025

At the 2025 24 Hours of Daytona, Vanthoor drove the M Hybrid to its first ever pole position, scoring the fastest lap in qualifying in the #24 car. The #24 crew, consisting of Vanthoor,

Kevin Magnussen Kevin Jan Magnussen (; born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for W Racing Team, WRT and the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, RLL as a factory driver f ...

, Raffaele Marciello, and Philipp Eng, were front-runners throughout all stages of the endurance race and were in contention for the overall race win against both IMSA GTP entries from Porsche Penske Motorsport and

Meyer Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR; formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American motorsport organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank, co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing ...

Acura ARX-06 The Acura ARX-06 is a sports prototype racing car designed by Honda Racing Corporation USA, formerly known as Honda Performance Development (HPD), and built by Oreca. It is designed to the LMDh, Le Mans Daytona h regulations, and competes in the ...

. At the final hour, the #24 experienced an issue with its nose which slowly deteriorated the car's condition by each passing lap. After attempting to stay out to remain in contention for the race win, Vanthoor was ultimately forced to pit for repairs as the car's condition worsened to a point in which the car could not continue further. This led to a 4th-place finish for him and his teammates.

Other motorsports

Formula E

In May 2024, Vanthoor was invited to take part in the

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

rookie test with

Envision Racing The Envision Racing Formula E Team is a British motor racing team, based at Silverstone Park and majority-owned by Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy that competes in Formula E. Currently, the three drivers are Robin Frijns, Sé ...

Racing record

Career summary

* Season still in progress † Guest driver ineligible to score points

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Vanthoor was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Intercontinental GT Challenge results

^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results

Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Bathurst 12 Hours results

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Zolder results

References

External links

Official website
*Profile a
Driver Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanthoor, Dries Belgian racing drivers 1998 births Living people 24H Series drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers European Le Mans Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers People from Heusden-Zolder Sportspeople from Limburg (Belgium) Audi Sport drivers W Racing Team drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Josef Kaufmann Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers BMW M drivers Saintéloc Racing drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Rowe Racing drivers TF Sport drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers British GT Championship drivers