BMW Team WRT scored a dominant victory in Sunday’s Suzuka 1000km, with Kelvin van der Linde taking the points lead in Intercontinental GT Challenge competition in the process.

Van der Linde, Raffaele Marciello and Charles Weerts picked up the German manufacturer’s third IGTC victory of the season, with the South African driver steering the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to the win by a 13.647-second margin over the second-placed No. 7 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurens Vanthoor.
It came in a commanding race for the pole-sitting BMW, which virtually led the entire six-and-a-half hour revived Japanese enduro.

Van der Linde and the Vincent Vosse-led WRT squad, meanwhile, picked up back-to-back Suzuka endurance wins, having won the 2019 edition in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.
The No. 32 BMW’s biggest threat came from the No. 888 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which went off-strategy with just over two hours to go when Luca Stolz pitted for the car’s second-to-last stop.

However, the race’s seventh Full Course Yellow, which turned into a third safety car period, dashed hopes of a top finish for the Hong Kong-flagged squad as the competition all made stops while under the neutralization prior to the full safety car deployment.
Vanthoor’s co-driver Kevin Estre took over second during the same yellow due to a making shorter stop in the NewMan-liveried Porsche that they shared with Patrick Pilet.

Estre came within three seconds of the No. 32 BMW prior to the car’s final stop after a hard-fought battle with the No. 6 Origine Motorsport Porsche throughout the race that ultimately led to floor damage during Laurin Heinrich and Bastian Buus’ stints.

The No. 2 Johor Motorsports JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, Scott McLaughlin and Nicky Catsburg completed the overall and Pro class podium, despite a pre-race Balance of Performance hit.
Catsburg was entrenched in a fierce battle with Buus as well as the No. 31 WRT BMW of Max Hesse with just over an hour to go, initially dropping to fifth before carving his way back to third before the final round of stops.