DOUBLE FIA WEC PODIUM SUCCESS FOR BMW M TEAM WRT AT IMOLA

DOUBLE FIA WEC PODIUM SUCCESS FOR BMW M TEAM WRT AT IMOLA

20/04/2025

Imola, Italy – April 20th, 2025 – After a strong showing at the season opener in Qatar, BMW M Team WRT and Team WRT returned to action this weekend for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. The team once again field four entries — two BMW M Hybrid V8s in the Hypercar class and two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs in LMGT3 — and delivered another competitive performance, highlighted by a strong P2 overall finish for the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 and a class podium for the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO after six hours of hard racing. 

Race Highlights

• Strong pace and execution characterised WRT Team’s performance at Imola. In a field of 13 manufacturers and 36 total entries, both BMW M Hybrid V8s demonstrated excellent speed on the tight and technical Italian circuit, while the BMW M4 GT3 EVOs were consistently competitive in the LMGT3 category.
• The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, started by Kevin Magnussen from P3, ran within the top-three during the opening phases of the race. Despite challenging track conditions and evolving strategies, the crew concluded the race in P6, maintaining a strong position in the championship standings.
• The sister car #20 faced a more challenging start from P13, but thanks to consistent and composed stints from René Rast, Robin Frijns, and Sheldon van der Linde, the car steadily climbed up the order. A strong final hour secured P2 overall — the team’s first Hypercar podium of the 2025 campaign.
• In LMGT3, the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, and Kelvin van der Linde, started from pole position after a standout qualifying performance from Al Harthy and a brilliant Hyperpole lap by Rossi. The car led for multiple stints and remained firmly in contention for the class win. A stop-and-go penalty in the fifth hour dropped them from the lead, but the crew fought back to take P2 in class, missing out on victory by just 0.397 seconds — their first podium of the season.
• The car #31, entered under The Bend Team WRT banner and driven by Yasser Shahin, Timur Boguslavskiy, and Augusto Farfus, experienced a more eventful race after their excellent podium in Qatar. Two penalties and a rear wing repair interrupted their progress, but the car saw the chequered flag with a P12 in class.

Momentum Building Ahead of Spa

With a double podium finish — P2 overall in Hypercar and P2 in LMGT3 — WRT leaves Imola with strong momentum and growing confidence in both categories. The team now looks ahead to one of the highlights of the FIA WEC calendar: the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, taking place on May 10th, where the battle will continue on home soil.

In the meantime, the GT World Challenge Europe squad will head to Brands Hatch for the second round of the championship and the Sprint Cup season opener, scheduled for May 3–4 in the UK.

Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal Team WRT: “A great race weekend with a second place both in Hypercar and in LMGT3! Sixth place for car #15 which had some trouble at the end of the race, but we will figure out what happened. We also had different issues with car #31. It is not nice to see them so far down the order as they were running in P2 at mid-race after coming back from P12. It is also unfortunate for car #46 which led a big part of the race and had the pace to win it without the penalty. Anyway, a double podium in WEC is always very satisfying. The next one is our home race. Let’s see what we can do!”

Augusto FARFUS, driver #31: ”There are races where everything just goes wrong. This was one of those races. We had a great car with great speed, but we just couldn't capitalise on it. That's hard to accept because it doesn't happen every time that you have such a strong package available. We made too many mistakes – and luck was also not on our side. But the championship is still open. We now need to focus on the next race!"

Valentino ROSSI, driver #46: “I have mixed feelings because a podium is a good result, but we could have won. It's very unfortunate because the team did a fantastic job, the car was very fast, and we managed the tires well. Ahmad and especially Kelvin at the end drove brilliantly. Kelvin fought until the end and brought the podium home. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and hit the Ferrari in front of me during an overtaking attempt. The subsequent penalty cost us the win. I am sorry about that.”

Raffaele MARCIELLO, driver #15: "I'm happy for the #20 crew that they made it to the podium. They had a lot of bad luck last season. On our side of the garage, we can't be satisfied. Things were going well for a long time, but as the race progressed, we lost performance. Now we need to look at and understand how this happened. We all know how fast Dries is in the car. When I handed over to him, I thought it could be our day. But then the problem occurred."

René RAST, driver #20: "A fantastic result – finally a podium! We didn't expect this after finishing 13th in qualifying, which didn't go as planned. But in the race, we showed how good our car and our team are. We made almost no mistakes, stayed calm, and executed well. In the end, a bit of luck was also involved, but we had so much bad luck in the last races that we now deserve to celebrate."