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Acura/BMW pit skirmish brings drama to Sebring’s third quarter

The sun is beginning to set on the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with three hours to go, and the cars under safety car primed for a restart. From Brendon Hartley’s off in the fifth hour, the race has been entirely green all the way to the closing stages …

The sun is beginning to set on the 2025 12 Hours of Sebring with three hours to go, and the cars under safety car primed for a restart.

From Brendon Hartley’s off in the fifth hour, the race has been entirely green all the way to the closing stages of the ninth hour. There were a handful of spins and offs, but until Casper Stevenson in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin looped around at Turn 17 and was stranded at the apex with 3h17m remaining, it was green, green, green.

Stephenson’s spin prompted a safety car, though, which reset the field, wiped all the gaps and caused a flurry of pit activity as the 10th hour began.

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac took the lead at the stops under safety car from the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which has dropped to second. The No. 6 Porsche sits third, with the No. 93 Acura fourth and the No. 25 BMW up to fifth, having pitted just before the caution.

High drama occurred for two GTP runners in the pit lane during the yellow. Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Acura MSR ARX-06 and Philipp Eng in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL collided while exiting the pit lane. Blomqvist pulled out and tagged the right rear of the M Hybrid V8, damaging the front-left corner of his ARX-06 and its steering, prompting him to stop at the exit.

The No. 24 didn’t get away unscathed either, requiring a second stop under caution for a rear clip change, tire change and further inspection as a result of the impact. Both cars are tumbling down the order and out of contention as a result.

Elsewhere in the class, there was drama for Lamborghini’s SC63 — retired with suspected floor damage after 256 laps, marking a tough end to a tough week for the Riley-run prototype and a second DNF in two races to start the season.

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In LMP2 the No. 04 Crowdstrike by APR ORECA is out front, though the team will be frustrated after losing a big lead. Malthe Jakobsen stretched the team’s advantage to 1m11s during his most recent stint, before the team was handed a drive-through for failing to adhere to tire operational requirements which reduced the gap to 50s. That advantage has now been totally wiped out.

The No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA is second with the No. 11 TDS Racing entry third. The top seven in the class are on the lead lap.

Meanwhile, Pratt Miller Motorsports’ ORECA became the fourth retirement early in hour seven. The car, which suffered an oil leak earlier in the race, was withdrawn due to a “technical issue” after 144 laps.

GTD Pro feels like anyone’s game now, with four brands in the top four. The No. 65 Ford Mustang holds the top spot, with the No. 4 Corvette second, the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW third and the No. 77 AO Porsche fourth.

GTD was drama-heavy, with multiple retirements and leaders since the halfway mark. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari leads out of nowhere, ahead of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Winward’s car has run like clockwork, the only setback a drive-through for a pit stop infringement (a mechanic working on the car from over the wall) while it was running fourth in the eighth hour.

Wright Motorsports’ Porsche lost track position to a recent infraction too. It fell foul of leaving pit lane with equipment attached and needed to serve a drive through which would drop the No. 120 911 to fourth.

There was a rotten stroke of bad luck for the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the seventh hour. Kenton Koch, from the lead, peeled off the circuit in the run to the Turn 7 hairpin with a loss of power that would prove terminal. A huge letdown after such a superb run through the first half of the race for the Ohio-based team.

It left the door open for a new leader. The pole-sitting No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari found itself at the head of the field, but it too would hit trouble after Alessandro Pier Guidi had an off at the end of the eighth hour at Turn 1.

The Italian kept the car out of the wall after running wide and hopping over the grass, briefly losing the lead to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Zach Robichon aboard the Vantage fell back to second shortly after when Pier Guidi fought back, but with 3h44m left on the clock the Ferrari would slow to a stop at Turn 6. It was an on-the-spot retirement.

The No. 32 and No. 21 were not the only GTD cars to retire in this phase of the race. The No. 19 VDSR Aston Martin is also no longer taking part after a lengthy trip behind the wall.

BMW celebrates 50 years in North America with Sebring livery

BMW M Motorsport revealed a special livery for the M Hybrid V8, to commemorate 50 years of BMW North America. The new livery was presented ahead of this week’s Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. The new design was inspired by a timeline of the …

BMW M Motorsport revealed a special livery for the M Hybrid V8, to commemorate 50 years of BMW North America. The new livery was presented ahead of this week’s Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.

The new design was inspired by a timeline of the manufacturer’s accomplishments in American motorsport, beginning at the 1975 12 Hours of Sebring – when Brian Redman, Hans Joachim-Stuck, Sam Posey, and Allan Moffat won the race in their BMW 3.0 CSL, just a week after BMW of North America was established.

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In 1999, BMW won the 12 Hours of Sebring again with the V12 LMR, the manufacturer’s most recent overall victory at the endurance classic.

The E46-generation BMW M3 GTR dominated the American Le Mans Series GT class in 2001, and a decade later, the E90-generation M3 GT2 took back-to-back Sebring class wins in 2011 and 2012.

More recently, Paul Miller Racing gave the M4 GT3 a GTD class win at Sebring in 2023, the same year that the M Hybrid V8 scored its first IMSA GTP podium. Last year, the two Team RLL M Hybrid V8s finished 1-2 at Indianapolis.

BMW takes one-two at Bathurst 12 Hour

BMW has taken its first win in the Bathurst 12 Hour race under the GT3 format and backed it up with a second place. Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde became the second pair of brothers to win at the famed Australian circuit with co-driver Augusto …

BMW has taken its first win in the Bathurst 12 Hour race under the GT3 format and backed it up with a second place.

Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde became the second pair of brothers to win at the famed Australian circuit with co-driver Augusto Farfus, taking a handy 10.25s win from their teammates, Raffaele Marciello, Charles Weerts and Valentino Rossi. The WRT BMW M4 GTRs were the class of the field and were two of the few cars to get their fuel strategy just right.

“It was the hardest two hours of my life,” said Kelvin van der Linde after a tense end to the race.

“We were fuel saving, especially when Chaz (Mostert) was coming, and it [was] so hard. We are very proud.”

Said Farfus, “We have been so, so close, so far and we wound up having a fast car and we executed a perfect race.”

“I have to say it is brilliant,” said Sheldon van der Linde, “I think we were flawless from the get-go this morning. I have no words. We have been trying to win this race for three years!”

The BMWs did somewhat ride their luck. Two safety car periods in the first half of the race fell right in their fuel window and even a drive-through penalty, which Rossi earned when he passed a lapped car under yellow flags, was well-timed. Weerts served the penalty, then pitted out of sequence under a different yellow flag, capping the loss to only six positions.

The No. 46 BMW of Raffaele Marciello, Charles Weerts and Valentino Rossi survived a penalty to finish second. GT World Challenge photo

The two Bavarian cars finished just clear of the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jules Gounon, Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul. The two-time race winner Habul suffered some contact early on, notably with the similar car of Stephen Grove, whose car mounted the wall.

The race came down to which cars and drivers had the speed and the gas mileage. With two hours of the race remaining that looked to be the BMWs, even if the No. 32 car was out of position, but the 80-minute stints looked to give WRT an advantage of perhaps two laps over the opposition. The other factor was that the race’s regulations state that any pit stop at which a car is refuelled must be of at least 80 seconds, ruling out any ideas that teams may have been able to splash-and-dash the cars and sprint to the checkered flag.

So it was that the Arise Ferrari 296 of Mostert ended the race as he started it, on the charge and flat-out. But the Supercars ace knew that the Arise Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 would need to pit for fuel, or need a lot of Safety Car laps, to make it to the flag. Sure enough, no yellow flags appeared and Mostert pitted within the final half-hour, and went on to record the race’s fastest lap to finish fourth in the car he shared with Will Brown and Daniel Serra.

In fifth place was the Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG of pole qualifier Lucas Auer/Maxy Gotz/Jayden Ojeda, ahead of the defending Matt Campbell/Ayhancan Guven/Alessio Picariello Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and the Bronze Class winning entry, the Heart of Racing Mercedes-AMG of Ross Gunn, Ian James and Zach Robichon in seventh outright.

The No. 36 Arise Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jaxon Evans, Alessio Rovera, Brad Schumacher and Elliott Schutte took Pro Am honours, but it was the No. 91 Porsche thst was one of the stories of the class. With Bronze drivers Sam and Yasser Shahin focused on fulfilling their driving duties safely it was left to Laurin Heinrich and Morris Schuring to keep the car with the leaders, and they did all that and more. The car got back on the lead lap in the eighth hour and the German and the Dutchman took over, pushing the Pro Am entry deep into the all-Pro pack before it dropped back to 10th outright with the Bronze drivers.

It was the No. 93 Wall Racing Lamborghini in the Silver Class, Brendon Leitch, Tony D’Alberto, Adrian Dietz and TV host Grant Denyer having a reliable run to ninth outright.

The Adam Christodolou/Daniel Bilksi/Mark Griffith McLaren was the sole finisher in the GT4 class. The David Crampton/Trent Harrison/Glen Wood KTM X-Bow took out the Invitational Class, in spite of the sole entrant in the class losing 20 laps while crash damage was repaired.

There was a strong run from the sole Aston Martin in the race. British GT champion Jamie Day looked comfortable on the track from the first Practice session and he and fellow Aston Martin Academy driver Mateo Villagomez were strong, as was local Jaylyn Robotham, who at least had previous Bathurst experience in Supercars. But the youngest trio in the race, and the second youngest in its history, were stopped by a clutch problem while leading the Silver class.

Of the fast cars that fell from contention, the last-minute entry of the James Racing Audi had a great run, Broc Feeney and Liam Talbot running with the leaders in the opening half of the race, until co-driver Ricardo Feller ran off the track and ended his day at The Chase.

The Team GMR Mercedes ran in the lead pack at the same time, but Maxy Martin crashed the car on Conrod Straight, putting him and co-drivers Maro Engel and Mikael Grenier into the pits for many laps.

The Cam Waters/Thomas Randle/Craig Lowndes Mercedes had a short race, Lowndes tagging a wall and parking the car with a broken driveshaft in the second hour.

Grove had the biggest crash of the race at the top of the hill, riding the top of the concrete wall after the Grove Racing Mercedes-AMG, which he was sharing with son Brenton and Fabian Schiller, made contact with the 75 Express car. Grove was transferred to Bathurst Base hospital and was being treated for a back injury as this report was being filed.

Rolex 24, Hour 2: Pit error costs BMW

Dries Vanthoor was cruising along with a 25-second lead until an error heading into the pits cost him and BMW M Team RLL the lead of the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona. Thanks to a strategic call from the Acura Meyer Shank Racing crew, IMSA debutant …

Dries Vanthoor was cruising along with a 25-second lead until an error heading into the pits cost him and BMW M Team RLL the lead of the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Thanks to a strategic call from the Acura Meyer Shank Racing crew, IMSA debutant Kakunoshin Ohta is now leading GTP in the No. 93 Acura ARX-06, despite spinning on cold tires during his first out lap of his first stint in America.

He’s ahead of Frederik Vesti, now aboard the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R in second, with Nick Tandy in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in third and the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche in a pleasantly surprising fourth, in the hands of Julien Andlauer.

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Vanthoor misjudged his approach into his pit box, and ended up with his left-front quarter panel against the pit wall. Adding insult to injury, the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 picked up a drive-through penalty for refueling while the car was on its jacks. That’s left Philipp Eng down the GTP order in 10th.

For fans of the Lamborghini SC63, it’s a bitter and early end for the No. 63’s long-awaited Daytona debut. Mirko Bortolotti drove the No. 63 back to the pits and walked away from the car. The car went behind the wall, into the garage and officially retired with a cooling system issue, as confirmed by a Lamborghini Squadra Corse representative.

In LMP2, PJ Hyett has a commanding class lead for AO Racing, with silver-rated Rasmus Lindh driving the No. 22 United Autosports USA car up to second, and Garnet Patterson, United’s other Silver, third in the No. 2 machine.

The 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 has also suffered a problem — just as owner/driver Kenny Habul was bedding in for his first stint, he missed the Bus Stop and the entrance of pit lane with smoke coming off the right-front wheel. The car has since returned to the race, though it is eight laps down — just after Maro Engel had started the race and driven up to second in GTD PRO.

After the last round of GTD PRO pit stops, Laurin Heinrich leads aboard the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R but is off-sequence after having to make an unscheduled pit stop in the last hour. An apparent mismatch between IMSA and the team’s energy readings led AO Racing to bring “Rexy” in to fix the issue, which has put Heinrich on the back foot.

The No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 of Frederic Vervisch took the lead from the BMW of Dan Harper, and the Ford is still in the ‘net lead’ (second place on the road) in GTD PRO.

Antonio Garcia runs third in the No. 3 Corvette, with Augusto Farfus now aboard the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, after relieving Harper.

Russell Ward has kept the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes up front in GTD, with Adam Adelson running second in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche, and Misha Goikhberg up into third in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini.

HOUR 2 STANDINGS

Dries Vanthoor’s late charge wins Rolex 24 pole for BMW

In a frantic finish, Dries Vanthoor has given BMW M Team RLL pole position for the 63rd annual Rolex 24 At Daytona. Driving in bitterly cold conditions, Vanthoor sneaked up to the top of the timesheets in his No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 with a top time …

In a frantic finish, Dries Vanthoor has given BMW M Team RLL pole position for the 63rd annual Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Driving in bitterly cold conditions, Vanthoor sneaked up to the top of the timesheets in his No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 with a top time of 1m33.895 — right at the checkered flag. It’s the younger Vanthoor brother’s first career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole position, and the first IMSA pole for the BMW M Hybrid V8 in GTP.

Vanthoor’s triumph counter-balanced the misfortune of the No. 25 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde, who came to a stop during his out laps and brought out a red flag — preventing him from setting a representative time.

That red flag set up a six-minute scramble for pole in GTP, which appeared to be going the way of Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. But on his final lap, Blomqvist was caught out by the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 of Mirko Bortolotti, and the two even made contact in the transition to Speedway Turn 1.

One of the Acura MSR cars did consolidate a front row start — but instead of the No. 60, it was Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Acura, with a 1m34.186s, coming in second.

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Reigning GTP champion Felipe Nasr was third quickest in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, followed by Jack Aitken, who made it four makes in the top four with his No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R.

Gianmaria Bruni was a solid fifth in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche, followed by Blomqvist in the No. 60 MSR Acura.

Bortolotti was ninth fastest, behind the two Wayne Taylor Racing cars — the No. 40 of Louis Deletraz and the No. 10 of Filipe Albuquerque — but the No. 63 Lamborghini had its time deleted for blocking. The No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche did not take part in qualifying, rendering IMSA’s decision to rescind its penalty from Practice 1 earlier today redundant.

Daniel Goldburg took the LMP2 pole for United Autosports. Jake Galstad/Lumen

LMP2 qualifying at Daytona has long been the domain of Ben Keating, but his streak of five consecutive class pole positions has come to an end at the hands of United Autosports USA’s Daniel Goldburg.

Goldburg, in the No. 22 ORECA 07, snatched the top time during the final minutes of LMP2 qualifying with a 1m38.690s. Despite the track conditions, he was within two-tenths of the pole time Keating set last year for United Autosports.

Keating will start second in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA with his best time of 1m39.000s, three-tenths behind Goldburg.

PJ Hyett had a time that was quick enough for third place, but with a minute to go, he spun his No. 99 “Spike” machine at Turn 2 and got stuck in the grass to bring out a red flag in the final seconds. Hyett lost his two fastest laps and was demoted to sixth.

That elevated Nick Boulle to third in the No. 2 United Autosports car, followed by the returning Chris Cumming in the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA in fourth, and Steven Thomas in the No.11 TDS Racing ORECA in fifth.

Ford Multimatic Motorsports made a serious statement of intent to kick off the second year of its GTD PRO program, qualifying 1-2 with Mike Rockenfeller on pole in the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3.

Mike Rockenfeller led the way in a strong showing for the Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 cars in GTD PRO. Michael Levitt/Lumen

Rockenfeller took provisional pole from the sister No. 65 Ford of Frederic Vervisch with a 1m45.810s, then improved to a 1m45.523s to put the top spot out of reach of the rest of the pack. It’s the Mustang GT3’s first GTD PRO pole position, and a front-row lockout with Vervisch in second with a 1m45.855s.

Paul Miller Racing’s new recruit, Dan Harper, and the No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO put together a solid qualifying run to take third on the grid with a 1m46.005s.

Alexander Sims was fourth quickest in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, ahead of Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in a strong fifth, with Tommy Milner seventh in the No. 4 Pratt Miller Corvette.

After a pre-qualifying gearbox change, defending GTD PRO champion Laurin Heinrich qualified seventh in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Wright Motorsports led the way in GTD, courtesy of Elliott Skeer with its Porsche 911 GT3 R. Jake Galstad/Lumen

Three different manufacturers were separated by mere milliseconds in GTD qualifying, but Elliott Skeer held off strong challenges from Trent Hindman and Philip Ellis to claim pole position for Wright Motorsports.

Skeer took provisional pole in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche with a 1m46.825s, then retook the top spot away from Hindman with a 1m46.634s, for his first career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole position. The reigning GT World Challenge America pro champion withstood a last-minute flyer from reigning GTD champion Philip Ellis, who set a 1m46.652s in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Hindman, in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini, held onto third with his 1m46.658s, as 0.024s separated the top three qualifiers in GTD. Maximilian Götz qualified fourth in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG, followed by Parker Thompson in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus.

Only one GTD car, the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, elected not to qualify.

RESULTS

Paul Miller Racing confirms IMSA GTD PRO drivers

Georgia-based Paul Miller Racing’s driver roster for the 2025 IMSA season has been confirmed by BMW on Tuesday morning. The team is bringing a start-studded set of drivers for its expanded two-car GTD PRO effort with the M4 GT3 EVO. BMW works driver …

BMW works driver Neil Verhagen, in the wake of Bryan Sellers’ departure, will race with Madison Snow for the full campaign in the No. 1, after competing in the Endurance Cup races for the team in 2024.

For the longer races former RLL GTP driver Connor De Phillippi and newly-appointed factory driver, Kelvin van der Linde, will join the No. 1 crew.

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In the sister car – which will sport No. 48 – former BMW Juniors Dan Harper and Max Hesse are teaming up in their first IMSA campaigns as a pair.

“I’m super excited to announce this program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It’s a big step in a different direction for me and there’s a lot to learn with a new team and new circuits, but I couldn’t be looking forward to it more,” Harper said.

“I’m delighted to be tackling this challenge with Max. We’ve worked closely for a number of years now and know each other so well. We both want the same thing from the car, so we complement each other well and that’s made us a great combination as team-mates.

“Paul Miller Racing have had some great results since teaming up with BMW and we’re looking forward to getting to work with them and hopefully enjoy lots of success together.

“I’ve heard a lot about the circuits in North America so I can’t wait to have my turn to race on them, starting with a bang with the Daytona 24 Hours. IMSA is incredibly competitive and we know it’s going to be a long, hard-fought season, but our aim is to go out there and challenge for the title.”

Jesse Krohn and Augusto Farfus, who shared the No. 24 RLL M Hybrid V8 in 2024, will support them for the Endurance Cup rounds.

“Paul Miller Racing is going all out with two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs in the GTD PRO class, supported by a high-class selection of works drivers,” added Andreas Roos, the head of BMW M Motorsport.

“The reunion of the former BMW Junior Team with Dan Harper, Max Hesse, and Neil Verhagen in one championship and team is a great bonus that underlines the extreme success of the relaunch of the legendary BMW M Motorsport talent promotion program.”

Rossi return confirmed as WRT announces WEC LMGT3 line-ups

Team WRT’s driver lineups for its upcoming FIA WEC LMGT3 campaign with the new-for-2025 BMW M4 GT3 EVO have been revealed on Tuesday morning. The headline news is the return of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi. He will share the No. 46 (which was …

Team WRT’s driver lineups for its upcoming FIA WEC LMGT3 campaign with the new-for-2025 BMW M4 GT3 EVO have been revealed on Tuesday morning.

The headline news is the return of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi. He will share the No. 46 (which was originally listed as No. 32 on the provisional full-season entry) with new BMW factory driver Kelvin van der Linde (who replaces Maxime Martin), and Bronze-rated Ahmad Al Harthy.

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The Italian, who told reporters in Bahrain he would compete in either WEC or World Challenge in 2025 and decide in the off-season, has chosen the World Championship and is pleased to be back.

“Very happy to continue my experience in the FIA WEC, as last year was a strong debut season,” Rossi said in Tuesday morning’s announcement. “We had some good races including two podiums and we want to try to be stronger and faster. We will work hard together with BMW M Motorsport to improve our performance and be more competitive in every race.

“It’s great to once again race at some fantastic tracks, that I know well from racing motorcycles, and this makes me enjoy racing in the FIA WEC. Le Mans is of course the most important one, we were unlucky last year, but we will fight for the podium in 2025.”

The sister car meanwhile has two changes to its line-up. The No. 31 – which will now run under The Bend Team WRT banner – will be shared by factory ace Augusto Farfus, former AKKODIS ASP driver Timur Boguslavskiy and Yasser Shahin, who joins the team after winning Le Mans and finishing second in the 2024 LMGT3 standings with Manthey.

“As with our Hypercar works programs, we can look forward to great BMW M Motorsport driver line-ups in the GT3 customer racing programs of the FIA WEC and IMSA series in 2025,” said Andreas Roos, the head of BMW M Motorsport.

“I congratulate Team WRT on once again securing some of the best swilver and bronze drivers for the cockpits of our two new BMW M4 GT3 EVOs. They will hopefully create many great moments alongside our three works drivers.”

Magnussen gets BMW works driver role

BMW M Motorsport has confirmed that current Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen will become one of its works drivers in 2025 and join the marque’s roster for its FIA WEC Hypercar and/or IMSA GTP program with the M Hybrid V8. Magnussen joins the …

Magnussen joins the Bavarian brand after his second spell in F1 with Haas ends after this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It will make a second foray into top-class sports cars for the Dane following his run with Cadillac in 2021. Then, he completed a full season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, where he achieved one victory and five podium finishes in the DPi category. That same year, he also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an LMP2 car alongside his father, Jan Magnussen.

BMW’s full driver line-up for both IMSA and WEC will be announced at a later date, along with further information about Magnussen’s commitments.

“Kevin Magnussen is an outstanding addition to our LMDh program,” Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport, said. “He has regularly demonstrated his speed at the highest level in Formula 1 over the past decade. Thanks to his extensive experience, he is a true asset to our project.

“His previous full season with a sports car prototype in 2021 is another advantage for us, as it will surely ease his acclimatization to the BMW M Hybrid V8. I am very delighted that Kevin Magnussen is part of the BMW M Motorsport family now.”

Magnussen added: “I am happy and proud to represent such an iconic motorsport brand as BMW in some of the world’s most legendary races. After 10 years in Formula 1, I am embarking on a new and exciting chapter and I look forward to taking on the challenge in the most innovative and advanced sports cars in the history of endurance racing.

“A huge thank you to BMW M Motorsport for this fantastic opportunity. I can hardly wait to start the preparations and look forward to kicking off the 2025 season with the rest of the team.”

Rossi weighing up GT options despite successful Hypercar test

The clear headliner from today’s FIA WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain was MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, who made his first Hypercar test with BMW Team WRT. The Italian completed 69 tours of the Sakhir circuit over the two sessions in the No. 20 M Hybrid …

Speaking with reporters at the end of the day, the 45-year-old Italian made clear he really enjoyed the experience behind the wheel.

“I am really happy about today,” he said. “From my first moment, I had a good feeling with the car and tires. I expected to suffer a bit more in warming up the tires. But here with the 50 degrees I didn’t have that problem.

“I tried both tire options, set my quickest on the mediums but felt good with the hard. This car has a lot of horsepower, but you have a good feeling and I like the braking without ABS. Sometimes you make mistakes but you can adapt it more to your style. It’s a proper race car, more stiff and precise, and you have a lot of aero so it’s impressive.

“The line with the Hypercar is also similar to the motorcycle line because you stay on the track and in a GT you cut everything. So this car is more similar to a bike.

“As for my time, I was a bit unlucky because I had two sets and with the second you can improve. With the first, I had a red flag, with the second I spun in traffic. Luckily I managed another lap and set the 50.5 but there’s more potential there.”

One of the biggest LMGT3 questions heading into the off-season is whether or not Rossi will return to WRT in 2025. When asked about his plans for next season, he said he hasn’t yet made a final call and is still deciding between a GT3 campaign in FIA WEC or GT World Challenge.

“I haven’t made my mind up, but I have quite a lot of pressure from BMW to remain in the WEC because it’s more important for them. But I haven’t decided — some things are better here, some better there. Now it’s more WEC,” he said.

“Anyway, I will race in the GT World Challenge finale in Jeddah, and then I will decide what I am going to do. It will be one or the other.”

Rossi’s experience today appears to have been an eye-opener. But will it lead to further outings in a prototype?

“I have to say after today coming back to GTs will be a little more difficult,” he said. “Next year, no. If I had the chance in the future, why not? The first test was very good.”

BMW Hybrids riding performance wave in IMSA and WEC

All of a sudden, things are looking up for BMW’s M Hybrid V8 program on both sides of the Atlantic. With a second-place finish in the WEC race at Fuji and a 1-2 in the IMSA Endurance Cup round at Indianapolis, both WRT and RLL have found form at the …

Two races remain in 2024 — IMSA’s Petit Le Mans and the WEC’s 8 Hours of Bahrain — and they appear crucial for BMW as it sets its expectations for 2025. Are we witnessing a turning point, like the latter part of 2023 was for Porsche Penske Motorsport, or will this month’s results prove a flash in the pan? BMW believes it’s doing the right things to make it the former.

Either way, the standout September for the German brand’s top-class sports car program has been a long time coming. Prior to Indy, RLL had been fighting through a sophomore slump in IMSA GTP, with zero trips to the podium through the first seven races. WRT, meanwhile, had also been waiting for a breakthrough before arriving in Japan, after spending much of its maiden Hypercar campaign playing catch-up with its new package.

So, what has changed? According to BMW, what we are seeing are the results of incremental updates to the car.

In the current era — with manufacturers desperate to keep budgets under control — once an LMDh like the M Hybrid V8 is homologated, your options to take strides in performance and reliability terms are limited. The rule-makers must approve all updates and any changes to improve a car’s raw speed are unlikely to be granted as Balance of Performance — in theory — serves as a backstop.

As a result, manufacturers must develop their cars through marginal evolutions rather than frequent major updates and tread carefully when deciding which areas to spend their “Joker” tokens on. In both the WEC and IMSA, ensuring your car can look after its tires and maintain a steady pace over multiple stints is the key to success.

And that’s exactly what BMW has done with WRT and RLL over the past two years. Like the other LMDh manufacturers, when it comes to bringing evo Jokers, it has been apprehensive. But that doesn’t mean it has been twiddling its thumbs.

Andreas Roos, the head of BMW Motorsport, told RACER last month at Circuit of The Americas’ Lone Star Le Mans weekend that no major updates were in the pipeline. Instead, BMW has an off-season test plan mapped out and will stick with what it has for 2025.

“We are not where we want to be but there is room left in our package,” he said. “So we are trying to optimize this.

“The performance has spiked, like at Le Mans. So we know the potential is there, we just have to be more consistent and quick under all circumstances. But it’s clear with all these manufacturers that it’s not that easy to make steps.”

That begs the question: where exactly are the gains being made? According to Valentino Conti, BMW’s head of track engineering, much work has gone into fixing vibration issues that impacted a number of areas through the first season of the M Hybrid V8’s life.

He reveals that a change in engine concept from the current P66/3 eight-cylinder turbo (based on the DTM unit used in 2017-18) was even considered at one stage. But, like Porsche, BMW has decided to stick rather than twist, holding off on a major change. It’s also understood that developments from Bosch — the hybrid unit supplier for all LMDh cars — have made a big difference in this area and played a part in both BMW and Porsche’s decisions.

“We have had vibration issues not only affecting the hybrid system, but various other parts on the car,” he says. “We did a thorough analysis and we were thinking of a change (like Porsche) on the engine concept, but we identified all the areas and found solutions, which means we can stick to the concept.

“We never had many issues with the MGU; it was other parts of the car where we had issues that we had to fix. One part was the steering wheel. We were analyzing vibrations in the whole car, and one part was the steering wheel.”

Software is another area in which BMW has made progress with the M Hybrid V8. The complex systems behind the current set of LMH and LMDh cars can be tweaked and refined pretty freely. And, as Conti explained, there’s far more to it than just updating the car’s traction control.

“TC is one part for sure; you can always work on that and improve, and that’s critical for us,” he says. “But there are other functions on the car that you want to develop. You can influence the balance and also its performance under braking because it’s hydraulic, it’s in combination with the hybrid system and the re-gen. You want to play with these areas.

“You also have a power curve which you have to follow and with vibrations and oscillations, and it’s very hard to match the power. Sometimes, you overshoot, you undershoot, and you have to work out the margins and reduce them. Software never ends.

“And on this car, opposite to Formula E, it’s very aero-driven, and this is where we have to learn. The aero is frozen but you have to find the optimal window to run the car on the track and the differences here are the three types of tires and sometimes it’s not clear.”

Managing tire warm-up is a critical part of the performance equation in both IMSA and WEC. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

As BMW and its teams have learned more about the M Hybrid V8, they have found ways to improve tire warm-up, too.

With no tire warmers in either IMSA or the WEC, every manufacturer has had to find ways to get their cars up to speed as quickly as possible after each pit stop, to avoid bleeding away time on out-laps. There is still room for improvement in this area, though.

“Tire warm-up is a big thing,” Conti stresses. “With LMH and LMDh, there are differences because they have the MGU at the front and when they get away they can spin the front wheels, so for us bringing the front wheels up to temperature is still a struggle. And that’s not the only advantage.”

So while no evo Jokers are expected anytime soon — in part because the M Hybrid V8’s reliability is “knock on wood, OK” and in a “stable window” according to Conti — there’s cause for optimism. There is the belief that this uptick in form from BMW can and will carry over to the 2025 season, where expectations will be even higher.

Will we see BMW challenge for titles and major race wins at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans? Taking that step, according to Roos, is going to take “something from everyone to give the drivers what they need to be consistently fast.”