LMGT3 VICTORY IN IMOLA AND SOLID POINTS ACROSS ALL PROGRAMMES

This weekend, BMW M Team WRT was racing on both sides of the Atlantic, with the IMSA team competing in Long Beach for the first Sprint race of the season, while the WEC squads kicked off their FIA World Endurance Championship campaign in Imola.

In IMSA, on Saturday night European time, the streets of Long Beach delivered a short but intense race. The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor secured a fifth-place finish in the GTP class, scoring valuable points in a tightly contested field. Despite not having the ideal starting position, both drivers executed a consistent race to move forward and maximise the result. On the sister car #25, a strong qualifying effort had put the crew of Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng in a promising front-row position. However, an early-race incident forced the car into repairs, dropping it to the back of the field and effectively ending any hopes of a top result.

On Sunday in Imola, the WEC programme got off to a very strong start, highlighted by victory in the LMGT3 class for the #69 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Featuring a unique livery inspired by the 1991 DTM BMW E30 M3, the car driven by Anthony McIntosh, Dan Harper and Parker Thompson delivered a standout performance to secure the win. The sister car also showed strong pace throughout the race, underlining the competitiveness of the package and the team’s execution, with Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung securing fifth place.

In the Hypercar class, both BMW M Hybrid V8 entries reached the Hyperpole session, ultimately securing P9 and P10 on the grid, just four tenths of a second from pole position, highlighting the competitiveness of the field. In the race, the #15 of Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello and the #20 of Robin Frijns and René Rast fought within the pack throughout. Both cars reached the chequered flag, finishing fifth for the #20 crew and seventh for the #15 duo.

Across both programmes, the weekend once again highlighted the scale of operations and the collective effort of the team racing simultaneously in the US and Europe, delivering solid points in Hypercar, along with a race win in LMGT3.

Vincent Vosse, Team Principal Team WRT: "First victory in the first race of the season – an excellent result for our #69 crew. I am absolutely delighted for our LMGT3 team about the win and also the top result for car number 32. That is truly exceptional. Fifth and seventh place with our two Hypercars are strong results. Of course, we would have preferred to be on the podium, but it is still a good start to the season that brings us important points. The drivers did an excellent and flawless job. Unfortunately, car number 20 received a drive-through penalty due to a mistake during a yellow phase. We need to avoid such things in the future. I want to take the opportunity to dedicate this victory to Juha Miettinen, who passed away yesterday due to his passion at the Nürburgring.”