Huit pilotes pour quatre voitures : BMW M Motorsport annonce la composition de son programme LMDh 2025.

BMW M Motorsport entamera en 2025 sa deuxième saison du Championnat du monde d'endurance de la FIA (FIA WEC) et sa troisième saison dans le Championnat IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar (série IMSA) avec la BMW M Hybrid V8. Afin d’atteindre ses objectifs ambitieux dans les deux séries de courses, BMW M Motorsport renforce ses équipes de pilotes . Un total de huit pilotes BMW M se partageront les tâches de pilotage au sein de l'équipe BMW M Team WRT dans le FIA WEC et de l'équipe BMW M Team RLL dans le championnat IMSA.

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Munich. New to the team is Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen (DEN). He will be joined by Philipp Eng (AUT), Robin Frijns (NED), Raffaele Marciello (SUI), René Rast (GER), Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), Dries Vanthoor (BEL), and Marco Wittmann (GER) . 

In the BMW M Team WRT line-up for the FIA WEC, there is one change compared to the debut season. In the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, Magnussen will start alongside Marciello and Vanthoor. The crew of car #20 remains unchanged with Frijns, Rast, and van der Linde. Wittmann continues as a regular driver in the LMDh programme but switches from the FIA WEC to the IMSA series with BMW M Team RLL. Eng stays in North America and will enter his third season with the BMW M Hybrid V8 there. Van der Linde and Vanthoor will take on a dual role, competing as regular drivers in both the FIA WEC and the full IMSA season. Vanthoor and Eng will share the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, while van der Linde and Wittmann will drive the #25 sister car.

Due to scheduling conflicts between the two racing series, only two drivers per car will participate in the FIA WEC event at Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) in May. Vanthoor and van der Linde will simultaneously race in the IMSA event at Laguna Seca (USA).

For the endurance races of the IMSA series at Daytona, Sebring, and Road Atlanta (all USA), the other four LMDh drivers will supplement the line-ups. Magnussen will compete in all three races in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Marciello joining as the fourth driver at Daytona. In car #25, Frijns will drive all three races, with Rast completing the Daytona quartet.

Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport): “We have high goals for the upcoming season with our BMW M Hybrid V8 prototypes. To achieve these, we are striving for optimisations in all areas. For our driver line-up, this means focusing and specialising. The more time our drivers spend behind the wheel of the BMW M Hybrid V8, the better they will get to know its handling and the more feedback they can provide to our engineers. The goal is to intensify the development of the BMW M Hybrid V8 in collaboration with the specialists at the teams and at BMW M Motorsport. It also helps us in this regard, that some drivers compete in both championships, thereby further improving the exchange of information. We are convinced that this way joining our forces will bring us advantages. Of course, the schedule overlap in May is not ideal, but we have the regulatory option to compete in a 6-hour FIA WEC race with two drivers per car, which we will utilise. The fact that the season starts in January with the 24-hour race at Daytona is very beneficial for us. This allows us to have all eight drivers together for an extended period early in the season, helping us to optimally synchronise with each other.”