RESILIENCE AND HEARTBREAK ON HOME SOIL FOR BMW M TEAM WRT

RESILIENCE AND HEARTBREAK ON HOME SOIL FOR BMW M TEAM WRT

11/05/2024

A record-breaking 88,180 spectators brought the Ardennes to life, at the 2024 FIA WEC’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which celebrated a thriving era in endurance motorsport.

Yet, for BMW M Team WRT, the fates proved unpredictable. Despite positive qualifications, the race unfolded as a cruel twist of fortune. Disaster struck twice in the LMGT3 category, with cars #46 and #31 falling victim to untimely incidents on the track. The latter incident, involving car #31, even halted the race for over one hour and 40 minutes. Fortunately, both drivers, #46's Ahmad Al Harthy and #31's Sean Gelael, emerged unscathed.

Disappointment echoed in the Hypercar category as well. Following an encouraging showing at Imola, aspirations were high to contend for points once more. Yet, the reality proved far more arduous than anticipated, with the BMW M Hybrid V8s #15 and #20 crossing the finish line in 11th and 13th positions, respectively.

Now, the FIA WEC WRT teams shift towards the next challenge: the legendary grounds of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

QUOTES

Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal BMW M Team WRT: “I think that we have got some good information to take with us, but it’s clear we cannot make a good result without having a clean race, and unfortunately, we did not have a clean race. We must analyze why and improve it. In LMGT3, it was a real shame to see how much work we have put together with the #31 and #46, and that was gone and not by the fault of our drivers. It is tough to swallow. Now let’s see what we can do at Le Mans to recover all of those points we have lost here!”.

Sean GELAEL, #31 BMW M4 GT3: “Could be better, could be worse. We were fighting for a virtual podium for our home and then the incident happened. I think it’s an avoidable incident... But this is what it is. Hopefully we end up in a better position next time. We close the Spa book and we are fully focused on Le Mans”.

Augusto FARFUS, #31 BMW M4 GT3: “All drivers in the #31 executed a very good race. Every single driver fulfilled his own task. Unfortunately, we had both LMGT3 cars taken out by Hypercars and that should be a sign that this is an issue which needs to be addressed”.

Ahmad AL HARTHY, #46 BMW M4 GT3: "Obviously very disapointed with how the race ended. We had an amazing qualifying yesterday and a pretty solid start to the race. We had to save our tyres as much as we could without losing positions. Unfortunately, the contact that happened between two Hypercars was totally out of my control and we ended up with a DNF. It's definetely not what we wanted for the team that deserved more. We have to be positive and try to learn as much as we can. I'm looking forward to our next round, Le Mans!".

Maxime MARTIN, #46 BMW M4 GT3: “It’s a pity. We're certainly not at Spa to retire after 1h30. But it’s part of the game, that’s racing. It's indeed a shame because Ahmad was doing a good job, and we could have scored some important points. But that's the way it is. Now we focus on the next race, the most important one, the 24H of Le Mans”.

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.”