Why BMW shouldn't be discounted on its Le Mans return

It has taken outright victories at the Spa and Nurburgring 24 Hours, the Bathurst 12 Hour and Macau’s GT World Cup. There have been countless titles in GT racing, and the honours have kept on coming since its move into prototypes in 2021. Now comes WRT’s long-awaited chance to tackle the Le Mans 24 Hours in sportscar racing’s top category. And it will do so with an illustrious partner in BMW.

The 2024 race is a significant anniversary for the Bavarian marque: it’s 25 years since its famous victory in 1999, when the Schnitzer-run V12 LMR of Yannick Dalmas, Jo Winkelhock and Pierluigi Martini prevailed over Toyota after several fancied manufacturer efforts fell by the wayside. That’s a scenario that BMW motorsport boss Andreas Roos would be only too happy to see repeated with the M Hybrid V8 LMDh as the marque embarks on its first attempt at Le Mans since 2019, when its MTEK-run M8s ran in GTE Pro.

“We are really aware of it, it’s a great topic,” Roos replies when asked to what degree BMW is conscious of the anniversary. “It could be a very nice anniversary after 25 years to be back on the top step once more, so we will try everything to make it happen. But you know how hard it is.

“For sure we want to be on the top step again at some point,” he continues, before the downplaying of expectations that has been de rigueur since challengers to Toyota began to stack up last year. “But we also have to be realistic.”

On paper, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about a union that appeared unlikely as recently as 2021, when WRT was shaping up to run Audi’s LMDh programme. Roos was himself heavily involved in that Audi project, which was ultimately canned to make way for the manufacturer’s looming entry into Formula 1 with Sauber.

As project manager of factory motorsport at Audi, Roos would under different circumstances be shaping up for a second assault on Le Mans with a car that was set to be based on the same Multimatic LMP2 platform as Porsche’s 963. But fate had a different German manufacturer in store.

WRT was set to run the canned Audi LMDh programme overseen by Roos (right), who has instead brought Vosse (left) into the BMW fold

Photo by: Andreas Beil

WRT’s partnership with BMW was announced in 2022, mere months after Roos was appointed to his current role as the replacement for the outgoing Mike Krack, who had become Aston Martin F1 team principal. And after winning a second WEC LMP2 title in three years in 2023, just missing out on adding to the Le Mans class victory it secured on its debut in 2021, the ace Belgian squad run by Vincent Vosse is stepping up to make its mark in Hypercar. Roos says “the history of WRT speaks for itself”, and its strong record in LMP2 can only be beneficial for BMW in its preparations.

“Every lap at Le Mans that you can get with anything, it’s experience,” points out Vosse, who himself is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his first participation in the 24 Hours at the wheel of a Roock Racing Porsche 911 GT2, which he drove to finish 20th overall in 1999 with Claudia Hurtgen and Andre Ahrle. “It would be better to have already a year’s experience with the Hypercar, but that’s not the case.”

But BMW isn’t starting totally from zero. Unlike fellow WEC top-class newcomers Alpine and Lamborghini, both embarking upon their first 24-hour races with their respective mounts, BMW can at least draw on a year’s worth of running in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Rahal Letterman Lanigan. It has already notched up a first victory during that period, albeit as the beneficiary of Porsche failing a post-race plank inspection at Watkins Glen last June.

Roos reckoned “on pure pace, we again made some steps” at Spa, and pointed to the fact that “our cars are fastest in the first sector and fastest in the last sector” as an encouraging sign

Roos says that having the car now running on both sides of the Atlantic has increased BMW’s rate of data-gathering such that it is “generally easier for us now” to identify and quickly iron out problems, although WRT’s only 24-hour test at Motorland Aragon was, Vosse admits, “not perfect. The car is reliable when it comes to the main things but there are still sometimes a few gremlins here and there. But everyone has those.”

The WEC season so far has been mixed for BMW. Cadillac’s disqualification from the Qatar opener meant the Munich marque emerged with points, but Roos wasn’t satisfied with the weekend. “Not everything went perfectly,” he remarks. “We struggled a bit.”

Imola next time out was far more encouraging. Roos says BMW made “a good step” as the #20 crew of Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde – who will be easy to spot at Le Mans, running an art car livery created by Julie Mehretu – placed sixth after occupying a place in the top 10 throughout.

The sister #15 car of Marco Wittmann, Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello was out of contention from the off thanks to being caught up in the first-lap Tamburello melee, which required a 54-minute pit visit to repair suspension and bodywork damage. Avoiding such calamity is always crucial in the modern era of the 24 Hours.

The #20 crew that scored BMW's best result to date at Imola will run an art car livery at Le Mans

Photo by: BMW Motorsport

“There were a lot of small things which could be improved, and I think we showed already at Imola that we learned a lot after Qatar; we made a lot of improvements,” reflects Roos.

But the most recent round at Spa was plagued by “too many mistakes and penalties”, which meant neither car made the top 10. Rast was penalised for contact with Phil Hanson’s Jota Porsche, Frijns for passing an LMGT3 car outside track limits, and Marciello for engaging reverse in the pits.

“Everything went wrong somehow,” says Rast. “We got a lot of penalties and were always at the wrong end of everything.”

But the treble DTM champion rightly pointed out that “pace-wise, we were in the mix”. Sure enough, Roos reckoned “on pure pace, we again made some steps”, and pointed to the fact that “our cars are fastest in the first sector and fastest in the last sector” as an encouraging sign on the circuit that more closely resembles Le Mans than any other on the WEC calendar.

Vosse was clear pre-event that WRT would “not be destabilised” by whatever happened at Spa and predicted “we should take another step forward at Le Mans” as its learning curve continues apace. Frijns, part of WRT’s 2021 Le Mans-winning LMP2 line-up that prevailed by 0.7 seconds after the sister car suffered a freak final-lap electrical glitch while leading, notes that “we are still exploring things” on the set-up.

“It’s a very complex car to learn,” adds the Dutchman, who calls LMP2 “very basic” by comparison. “A lot more people are involved in it to get the car running smoothly.”

Vosse wisely hasn’t changed WRT’s winning formula too much. The infrastructure and engineers in place “didn’t change massively from what we had in LMP2”, points out Frijns, a team stalwart whose only season not racing with WRT since 2015 came amid the pandemic-impacted 2020 campaign.

Roos has full faith in his driving line-up, which comprises three event rookies, and regards them as “the perfect combination”. In addition to Frijns, Vanthoor is also a Le Mans class winner – he claimed GTE Am spoils on his event debut in 2017 in a JMW Ferrari 458 – while Rast has a best finish of second in LMP2 from his five Le Mans outings, which include one as part of Audi’s LMP1 roster in 2015.

Roos hasn't been afraid to take a punt on youth, with van der Linde among three of its drivers who have never contested Le Mans before

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Of those who have not raced at Le Mans, former Mercedes ace Marciello and two-time DTM champion Wittmann are recent winners of the Spa 24 Hours, while van der Linde is a two-time Nurburgring 24 Hours runner-up. Both he and Wittmann have also raced the M Hybrid V8 at Daytona, so are used to the feeling of bringing the Michelin tyre up to temperature from cold in less-than-ideal conditions. That vote of confidence has instilled belief in the crews, the 2022 DTM champion explains.

“Just to have the chance from BMW to take us without experience I think is already hats off to them,” van der Linde enthuses. “We know a lot of manufacturers who say, ‘You need experience to be here, we can’t take you right now, we’d rather take someone who is a bit older and more experienced who has done it before’.”

Van der Linde correctly points out that the vagaries of multi-class racing are “nothing new to us”, and the South African doesn’t expect to have too much difficulty finding his way around the Circuit de la Sarthe: “I haven’t driven there before, but I think there are more difficult tracks to learn.”

"I don’t see any reason why we should be less competitive than the Caddy last year"
Vincent Vosse

Vosse doesn’t expect it to be a significant impediment either.

“It’s not technical, it’s not difficult,” he reckons. “It’s always nice to have experience at Le Mans, but it’s not the end of the world not knowing the track.”

So what will be possible? There is encouragement to be taken from Cadillac’s showing last year, not only as the leading LMDh entrant at the finish, but also because it showed excellent pace with its Dallara-based chassis. BMW has Dallara as a chassis partner, which Roos says is “a positive thing”.

“I don’t see any reason why we should be less competitive than the Caddy last year,” muses Vosse, before cautioning that “when you compare to last year, the level is even higher”. Setting expectations isn’t straightforward before the permutations of Balance of Performance become clear.

“It’s tough to set any goals because you never know what to expect,” Vosse expands. “You can do a great race and finish 10th, but you can also do a great race and finish third.”

Taking on Le Mans Hypercar manufacturers Toyota and Ferrari, as well as leading LMDh lights Porsche and Cadillac, is the target but BMW isn't sure of BoP permutations

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

There’s a recognition that emulating Ferrari last year by winning at the first attempt will be a tall order. “We know that it will be tough to fight for the win,” predicts Vosse.

“You can’t force a win at Le Mans,” agrees Roos, who as head of track engineering on Audi’s LMP1 programme from 2012 until it ceased in 2016 tasted Le Mans success three times. “You need a good team, you need fast drivers, you need a reliable car, you need a fast car, and then you need a big portion of luck.”

But for all the downplaying, Roos acknowledges “we have the ingredients” to put on a good show. And at Le Mans, things can change quickly.

“To beat the competition today, which is set by the three – Toyota, Porsche, Ferrari – it’s going to be tough,” says Vosse. “But you never know.”

And if anyone should know how unpredictable Le Mans can be, after its 2021 experience, it’s WRT…

Dramatic LMP2 win for WRT's #31 ORECA driven by Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi in 2021 came after problems hit its sister car on the final lap, a reminder that anything can happen at Le Mans

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Alpine staying “humble”

Alpine produced its most competitive World Endurance Championship performance with its new A424 LMDh at Spa, but that’s not reflected by the results. The ORECA-based car’s best finish remains the seventh place earned on its debut in Qatar thanks to canny fuel strategy, but in Belgium the Signatech-run cars were top 10 contenders from the off.

After cracking Hyperpole for the first time, the #35 machine of Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin and Jules Gounon placed ninth while the sister #36 entry of Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere got scuppered by pitting just before the red flag and was a lap down at the restart. They finished 12th, but only five drivers set a lap faster than Vaxiviere – and four were in Porsches…

The French team will target a respectable showing at Le Mans, where it hopes that Ferdinand Habsburg will be fully recovered from fractured vertebrae sustained in a Motorland Aragon test crash that led to reserve driver Gounon filling in at Imola and Spa. But ‘respectable’ is about the summit of its ambitions.

Famin considers reliability “not our main concern” but adds that the competition will need to hit a collective “disaster” in order for the Alpines to land up on the rostrum

Bruno Famin, VP of Alpine Motorsports, is clear that “we have a lot to learn and we’re approaching it in a very humble way. The start of the season has been quite in line with what we expected: not easy.”

Alpine had a disastrous race at Imola, where both cars were embroiled in a first-corner accident. But even without that, Famin says “the pace was not there”. And although Spa is the WEC circuit with the greatest similarities to Le Mans, it isn’t like-for-like since the French track is far less abrasive on tyres.

“Ultimately, you only know if you are good when you are at Le Mans,” says Milesi. “And you can only really see it during the race, because you don’t know what the others are doing.”

Famin maintains that “we have to be realistic” given the weight of opposition in the Hypercar category, and identifies finishing with both cars as “the main objective”. Fortunately, he considers reliability “not our main concern” but adds that the competition will need to hit a collective “disaster” in order for the Alpines to land up on the rostrum.

After cunning strategy play earned Qatar points, Alpine showed encouraging pace at Spa, but Famin remains cautious

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Lamborghini’s learning mission

Lamborghini has yet to crack the top 10 in the World Endurance Championship with its single-car SC63 LMDh fielded by Iron Lynx. The Ligier-based car’s development was set back by a test crash at Paul Ricard, and motorsport boss Giorgio Sanna’s unexpected departure hardly helped matters. Sanna’s role is being performed on an interim basis by chief technical officer Rouven Mohr, who admits that prior to the Qatar opener “we had more or less two performance tests”.

The WEC entry assigned to Edoardo Mortara, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat has a best finish of 12th to date. This came at Imola before a rear axle problem at Spa led to the car’s first retirement. Preparation for Le Mans isn’t helped by the fact that Lamborghini’s second entry there only races part-time, in the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s enduros.

Le Mans will in fact be just the second race in the SC63 for Romain Grosjean and Matteo Cairoli (Andrea Caldarelli got a third when he replaced Mortara at Spa due to a Formula E clash) after an encouraging run to seventh at Sebring. Running two cars for the first time will be a bigger challenge, says Iron Lynx boss Andrea Piccini.

“Two cars is not just double the work, it’s probably four times more,” he says. “Concentrating on just one car, which we’ve done until now, is one thing. Having two to manage will require a much bigger effort. The first thing will be to get to the end with both.”

Piccini makes no bones that Iron Lynx is “learning race after race” as it grapples with the nuances of a car “more complicated to manage” than the ORECA-Gibson 07 its partner team Prema ran last year in LMP2. But he’s hopeful that the additional testing at Le Mans will help Lamborghini get closer to the pack. Piccini points out that “so far the track where we were most competitive was Imola, which was the only track where we had tested”.

Still, targets are modest: “It would be nice to get at least a top-10 finish. We would be arrogant to think we can fight for the win or the podium. This isn’t realistic.”

Lamborghini's first target is to get both cars to the finish at Le Mans

Photo by: Paolo Belletti