Dries Vanthoor

Dries Vanthoor (born 20 April 1998 in Heusden-Zolder) is a racing driver from Belgium who is set to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship with BMW M Team WRT.

Vanthoor began his career in karting, a discipline he remained in until 2014.

In 2015, the Belgian stepped up to junior formulae, driving in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup as part of Josef Kaufmann Racing.

With a win at Assen and a third place at the Nürburgring, Vanthoor ended up sixth in the standings.

For the 2016 season, Vanthoor switched to sportscar racing, where he would perform double duties in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and GT Series Sprint Cup for Team WRT, partnering Frédéric Vervisch in both series and being joined by brother Laurens Vanthoor 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, which he won whilst driving with Bonk Motorsport in the Cup 5 class.

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 and another podium in Germany resulted in a fifth place overall at year's end.

However, it was the 24 Hours of Le Mans which brought glory to Vanthoor that season, as he won the LMGTE Am class for JMW Motorsport together with Endurance Cup teammate Will Stevens and amateur driver Robert Smith.

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.

He is the younger brother of Laurens Vanthoor, a Porsche factory driver.

After the season concluded, Audi Sport announced that Vanthoor would become a factory driver from 2018 onwards.

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

Vanthoor also competed in the ADAC GT Masters 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.

Audi and WRT remained Vanthoor's partners for the 2019 season, where he would compete in the Endurance 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 alongside Ricardo Feller, another during the Sprint Cup round at Misano where he partnered Charles Weerts, and an overall victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, one Vanthoor and teammates Pierre Kaffer, Frank Stippler, and Fréd Vervisch achieved with Team Phoenix.

During a year heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vanthoor partnered Charles Weerts 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, where two fourth places came to be their highest results.

In addition, Vanthoor returned to the ADAC GT Masters with WRT, where he and Weerts won at the season-opening Lausitzring round, leading from start to finish after Vanthoor had scored his first pole position in the category.

In 2021, Vanthoor and Weerts, who had gained Audi factory driver status over the winter, returned to contest a double campaign in the Endurance 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 on the final lap, and the 24 Hours of Spa, a race in which Vanthoor narrowly lost out on victory to Ferrari factory driver Alessandro Pier Guidi.

WRT ended up third overall in the standings, as a podium in Barcelona was not enough to overhaul the Iron Lynx squad which finished four points ahead.

Going into 2022, the Vanthoor-WRT partnership remained in the Endurance 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, 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 and scoring two pole positions.

Vanthoor also garnered a win at the 6 Hours of Fuji alongside Robin Frijns and Sean Gelael as part of WRT's LMP2 lineup, where he, replacing René Rast, had made his second start in an Oreca 07 prototype, having competed with the team's third Le Mans entry earlier in the year.

In addition, Vanthoor won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring 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 factory lineup.

2023 would be Vanthoor's first sportscar season without driving a GT3 variant of the Audi R8, as his and WRT's Endurance 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 for the Endurance Cup.

The latter played out in a disappointing manner, as retirements at Paul Ricard and Spa 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.