For their first Hypercar season in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC), BMW M Team WRT made substantial progress, evolving from top-ten battles to regularly fighting for podium positions from mid-season and a first overall podium at Fuji. We look back at their season race by race as well as the roots of the #15 with the success of the V12 engine in the 90th.

The first BMW V12 success at Le Mans

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998. Some art work representing the BMW V12 engine.

The BMW V12 adventure at Le Mans began with a win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1995 when Yannick Dalmas, JJ Lehto et Masanori Sekiya won with the McLaren F1 GTR powered by the BMW S70/2 engine, a naturally-aspirated, V12 petrol engine, which was developed by BMW Motorsport in collaboration with McLaren and used to power the McLaren F1 GTR.

The 1997-1999 era with BMW Motorsport.

BMW intensified its involvement in the FIA GT Championship with two McLaren F1 GTR directly under the colors of BMW Motorsport in 1997, with a third step of the podium on the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1997 (P2 in LM GT1).

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998. DNF for the two BMW Motrosport BMW V12 LM in the top LMP1 class.

In 1998, BMW Motrosport entered two BMW V12 LM in the top LMP1 class ending the 24 Hours race with two DNF respectively after 43 and 60 laps.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998. Winning #15 BMW Motorsport BMW V12 LMR with Yannick Dalmas, Joachim Winkelhock et Pierluigi Martini.

After this failure, BMW appointed Gerhard Berger, a former Formula 1 driver, as director of BMW Motorsport and entrusted the exploitation of two V12 LMRs to the Schnitzer team with a first success at the 12 Heures de Sebring where the V12 LMR won with Tom Kristensen, JJ Lehto and Jorg Müller.

That same year, for the 67th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans BMW was facing Toyota, Mercedes, Audi, Nissan and Panoz. After the retirement of Mercedes CLR flying in the air between Mulsanne and Indianapolis curves, a puncture and an accident for the two Toyota GT-One, the accident of the then leading BMW V12 LMR, Yannick Dalmas, Joachim Winkelhock et Pierluigi Martini won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1999 with the #15 V12 LMR.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lone Star Le Mans. BMW M Hybrid V8s #15 ended 8th.

The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 racing in Hypercar is a remembrance of that success of the #15 V12 LMR at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1999.

BMW M Motorsport return in endurance racing with Team RLL in IMSA

In 2021, BMW announced they would join IMSA's GTP class in 2023, using an LMDh-compliant racing design with Dallara as their chassis supplier and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Team RLL) to campaign the cars in IMSA.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 24 Hours of Daytona. First appearance of both BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 in IMSA.

The first BMW M Hybrid V8 season saw both cars ending the IMSA championship 6th (#25) and 8th (#24) after a win at Watkins Glen, two P2 at Sebring and Long Beach and two P3 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Indianapolis for #25. Sister #24 best result was a P4 at Long Beach. The team did suffer reliability issues with 5 DNF, electrical, brake, cooling, … issues.

BMW M Motorsport in Hypercar with Team WRT.

For its first season as BMW M Team WRT in Hyperclass, the Belgian team suffered the same reliability issues as their cousins in IMSA with 4 retirements and 1 Not Classified ending fifth of the manufacturers championship (second of the newcomers). Regular fighting for a podium seat in the second half of the season and a P2 at Fuji for #15 with Marciello, Vanthoor and Wittmann as best result for the season was the right momentum for a better second campaign in 2025. Let’s look back at the 2024 season race by race for the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC)

First challenging race for BMW M Team WRT Hypercar duo

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Qatar. First appearance of both BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 in FIA WEC.

Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal Team WRT quote after Qatar 1812 summarises best the spirit of his team after their first race with the BMW M Hybrid V8: "Qatar was a tough weekend. Finishing P12 and P16 in Hypercar, is not the result we were looking for but we gathered a lot of data and we have plenty of work from there.” Source: BMW M Team WRT

First points in Hypercar at Imola.

Both BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 at Imola — 📷 © Luc Warnotte at Imola. Both BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.

The second round of the FIA WEC World Championship saw BMW M Team WRT scoring its first points in Hypercar. BMW M Hybrid V8 #20, driven by Robin Frijns, René Rast, and Sheldon van der Linde secured a commendable 6th place finish, earning valuable points for the team. Car #15, with Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor, and Marco Wittmann at the wheel, was caught in the chaos of the start, spending many laps in the garage for repairs.

Sheldon VAN DER LINDE, #20 BMW M Hybrid V8: "In the end, that was one of the most challenging and craziest stints I've ever driven. I thought several times that I would lose the car. I knew I had to bring it home so we could score very good points. Luckily, that worked out. The team did a great job improving the car so much since Qatar. We can be very proud of that. Thank you to everyone!". Source: BMW M Team WRT

New disappointment at Spa

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa. At 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, both BMW M Hybrid V8s #15 and #20 crossed the finish line in 11th and 13th positions, respectively.

Raffaele MARCIELLO, #15 BMW M Hybrid V8: “It has been a difficult race. We were fighting for points and were running in P8, P9. Then unfortunately, I made a mistake and we got a penalty. That was quite unfortunate but let’s see how to improve and to do better next time.”

René RAST, #20 BMW M Hybrid V8: “It was not a great day. Everything went wrong somehow. We got a lot of penalties and have always been kind of at the wrong end of everything. A technical issue, penalties, so overall no points today. We need to learn from that. I think that pace wise, we were in the mix. That is one positive at least but we just need to perform better and make less mistakes and hopefully in the next race we will be better.” Source: BMW M Team WRT

P6 in Hyperpole but incidents at 24 Hours of Le Mans

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024. Left: P6 in Hyperpole for Dries Vanthoor with BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8. Center: no luck for both Hybrid V8 during the race.

Despite promising results ahead of the race with Vanthoor topping the qualifying session in the Hypercar class and scoring a P6 in Hyperpole, both BMW M Hybrid V8 suffered serious incidents ending in the barriers. Car #20, eventually crossed the finishing line after several hours spend in the garage.

Marco Wittmann, driver #15: “For me it was a dream come true to take part for the first time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and also an honour to take the start, always a highlight with the show and the big crowd. We are obviously very disappointed with the outcome and seeing our race end with such a big accident. Luckily, Dries walked away with almost no injuries, this is the most important. Seeing what happened also to our sister car, we can say that luck wasn’t meant to be on our side, and it hurts, but now we have to focus on the rest of the championship, learn from the negative and turn it into positive, and come back stronger. We made tremendous progress since Qatar, as shown by our pace here, we can be proud of that, and we should build upon it.” Source: BMW M Team WRT

Another top 10 at Sao Paulo

At Autódromo de Interlagos, car #15, driven by Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor, and Marco Wittmann, scored its first points of the season (P9) with a nice recovery after being hit by a competitor at the start of the race and losing track position. Meanwhile, the BMW M Hybrid V8 sister car, driven by Robin Frijns, René Rast, and Sheldon van der Linde, finished in P14.

Car #15 in top 10 at Austin despite strong Hyperpole from both Hybrid V8

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lone Star Le Mans. BMW M Hybrid V8s #15 ended 8th and sister #20 crossed the finish line in 13th position.

At Lone Star Le Mans, both LMDh machinery graduated through to Hyperpole and started from P7 (#20) and P8 (#15). Marco Wittmann (#15) and René Rast (#20) had a stellar start, maintaining relentless pace and rapidly advancing to P4 and P5. The BMW Hypercar #20 even took the lead of the 6 Hours of COTA. Penalties ultimately didn’t reflect their on-track performance with #15 ending 8th and #20, 13th.

Raffaele MARCIELLO, driver #15: “Austin has shown that for sure we have gained speed. We were able to fight more this weekend. It was the first time we were able to achieve it. We are going in the right direction, and we have got good points to work on. We are improving and now let’s see what Fuji brings, even if every track is different.” Source: BMW M Team WRT

First podium at Fuji

Fuji, round seven of the FIA WEC – Team WRT secured its first Hypercar podium since debuting with BMW, along with strong class performances from its other entry. The #15 crew of Marco Wittmann, Raffaele Marciello, and Dries Vanthoor fought all race long for victory, leading the race on several occasions, to finally achieve a 2nd place finish. The sister car #20, driven by Rast, Frijns, and van der Linde, couldn’t fight for higher positions after being involved in a second-lap incident. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue cut the #20's race short, with less than 15 minutes remaining.

P6 at Bahrain

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Bahrain 2024. Marciello, Vanthoor, Wittmann with #15 ending 6th.

In Bahrain, both BMW M Team WRT Hypercars fought for a strong finish. Ultimately a drivetrain issue forced car #20 to retire, while on car #15 Dries Vanthoor and his teammates finished P6 after fighting fiercely for a podium spot, FCYs ultimately disrupted the well-planned strategy.

Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal Team WRT: “It was a tough race. We were in a position to fight for the podium again, which is good. Unfortunately, we were a bit unlucky with the last Full Course Yellow and were not able to hold our position until the end. But P6 is still a good result.” Source: BMW M Team WRT