2016 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 two podiums in the Endurance Cup, leading to an eighth place overall. This included a second place at
Silverstone, where Vanthoor briefly took the lead from
Rolf Ineichen before being passed by eventual winner
Jazeman Jaafar a lap later. The Sprint Cup season began with difficulties, as Vanthoor caused a collision with
Maxime Soulet in the season-opening
Misano main race. That weekend's qualifying race also heralded the best result of his campaign, a fourth place; he and Vervisch finished 18th overall. In May, Vanthoor took part in the
24 Hours of Nürburgring, which he won whilst driving with Bonk Motorsport in the Cup 5 class. Finally, Vanthoor made his prototype racing debut at the
4 Hours of Spa in the
ELMS, finishing second alongside his brother and
Will Stevens.
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. Their
Sprint Cup campaign meanwhile, highlighted by a pair of victories at the
Hungaroring and another podium in Germany, led to the pair becoming a fixture in the championship battle. However, a pit stop issue during the final race cost Vanthoor and Fässler any chances of the title, and they ended up fifth in the standings. It was the
24 Hours of Le Mans which brought glory to Vanthoor that season: he first set a lap record for the LMGTE Am class in qualifying, before winning the race in dominant fashion alongside Endurance Cup teammate Will Stevens and amateur driver Rob Smith. After the season concluded,
Audi Sport announced that Vanthoor would become a factory driver from 2018 onwards.
2018 of
Robin Frijns,
Stuart Leonard and Vanthoor. At the beginning of 2018, Vanthoor claimed honours at the
Bathurst 12 Hours, winning alongside
Robin Frijns and
Stuart Leonard in the red-flagged race. 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. The Sprint Cup season started with second place at
Zolder, with Vanthoor losing the lead after being stuck in traffic on his in-lap. During the second Zolder race, Vanthoor used the pit stop phase to briefly take the lead, before he was given a drive-through penalty for an improper pit exit. At
Brands Hatch, Vanthoor took pole and won ahead of the sister car in race 1, though he had to retire from race 2 with a rear wheel issue. A further blow to the team's title chances occurred in Misano, where Stevens had to make an unscheduled stop to fix a loose wheel nut. Race 2 in Misano yielded a second place, as did race 1 at the Nürburgring. Vanthoor and Stevens therefore ended the campaign fourth in points. 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.
2019 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.
2020 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.
2021 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.
2022 driven by Vanthoor,
Mirko Bortolotti &
Rolf Ineichen 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 during the
2023 24 Hours of Spa The 2023 season would be Vanthoor's first sportscar campaign 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. == Hypercar career (2024–) ==