DISAPPOINTING 24 HOURS OF LE MANS FOR BMW M TEAM WRT

DISAPPOINTING 24 HOURS OF LE MANS FOR BMW M TEAM WRT

15/06/2025

It wasn’t the expected outcome at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for BMW M Team WRT, both in the Hypercar class, where the two BMW M Hybrid V8s saw their good race ruined in the final two hours by mechanical problems, and in the LMGT3 class, where the two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs had to retire during the night when they were fighting for the top positions.

Team WRT Principal Vincent Vosse summarised the squad’s feelings: “It’s a disappointing result, no doubt, and I feel sorry for all the team and the drivers who put so much work into this race in the last twelve months. Sometimes things are like this, it’s part of why we love motorsport, and now ​ we’ll channel that into coming back stronger. In Hypercar, it was not looking too bad, but two hours from the end we were hit by some issues and had to work on the cars to repair. In LMGT3, we had a very good first part of the race, thanks to a good strategy and great drives from our drivers, but unfortunately, we hit trouble, mechanical and in the form of a poor rabbit crossing the track. I want to extend my congratulations to all the winners, and in particular to Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye, who today got back what bad luck took away from them some years ago when they were racing with us.”

The BMWs proved competitive since free practice and confirmed in qualifying. In Hypercar, both cars made it to the Hyperpole 2, with #15 taking fourth on the grid with Dries Vanthoor in the decisive run and #20 taking sixth with Sheldon van der Linde. In LMGT3, car #46 had similar success, with Valentino Rossi putting the car in third on the grid. Only car #31, caught in traffic in the qualifying session, missed the threshold of the Hyperpole, qualifying 16^th.

The race, with stable weather throughout its whole duration and fewer incidents requiring neutralisation than usual, started positively for the BMWs. The two Hypercars were among the front-runners in the initial hours, and climbed into the top six after five hours, perfectly according to the plans. Later in the race, it proved more difficult to maintain the pace of the quickest cars although the narrow gaps kept all scenarios open. After three quarters of the race, car #15 with Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor was sixth and car #20, entrusted to Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, 10^th despite having been delayed by a stop-and-go and by incurring in some untimely ‘slow zones’. ​

Unfortunately, two hours from the end, both were hit by technical issues at the same time: car #15 had an issue with the hybrid cooling system, while car #20 had to stop in the pits because of an engine problem. Both restarted, #20 before #15, to cross the line 18^th and 19^th, respectively. ​

In the LMGT3 class, things started even better as #46 took the lead in the second hour. Fantastic stints from Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde allowed the blue-and-yellow BMW M4 GT3 EVO to fight for the win for 10 hours. At 2a.m., unfortunately, it suffered a sudden loss of power due to an electrical problem, forcing it to retire. Car #31, starting further back in the grid, climbed positions steadily, thanks to excellent stints from Yasser Shahin, Augusto Farfus and Timur Boguslavskiy, reaching the top five, but suffered an incident not unusual at Le Mans: during the 11^th hour, amid a safety car period, it hit a rabbit crossing the track and the car suffered severe damage to the front end and the cooling system, ending its fight to the LMGT3 podium. ​

In the two Road to Le Mans races, conditioned by heavy traffic since qualifying, Gustav Bergström and Samantha Tan, at the wheel of Team WRT’s #38 BMW M4 GT3 EVO took sixth and fourth in the two 60-minute races.

A unique and emotional moment for the team and all involved was lived in the framework of the ACO Challenge and as part of the broader We aRe uniTed initiative. Team WRT was honoured to welcome young karting champion Gabin Léger and his parents . At just six years old, he was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, a rare hip disorder that forced him to stop walking for many months. At now nine years old, Gabin’s inspiring journey and passion for motorsport deeply moved the entire team. As a tribute to his courage and to wish him well in pursuing his dreams, Team WRT in collaboration with Bell Helmets, presented him with a helmet custom-painted by Belgian artist ​ Pieter Van Den Berghe, alias Piroeh. Gabin spent the whole weekend within the team, metsome of his racing heroes, including Valentino Rossi, Kevin Magnussen, Tom Kristensen, and enjoyed a 90-minute memorable lunch with Jacky Ickx.

Augusto FARFUS, driver #31: "It was a tough Le Mans. They say you can't win Le Mans; Le Mans chooses its winners. That definitely applies to us. Maybe we couldn't have won, but I think we would have had a chance to fight for the podium, just like last year. Team WRT did a fantastic job, and it's very unfortunate that we couldn't bring either of our cars to the finish. The good thing for me is that I have three 24-hour races in a row, so next week at the Nürburgring, I have the chance to achieve a top result. From now on, that's where the focus lies."

Kelvin VAN DER LINDE, driver #46: "The incident was very strange. Suddenly, the car shut down, and with it, the power steering failed, leaving me no option but to go straight through the gravel trap. Luckily, there was a large run-off area at that part of the track. The retirement is extremely disappointing because we led the race for many hours. Although we didn't have the fastest car, we would have had good chances due to our consistency. Unfortunately, that's part of motorsport. We'll have another opportunity at Spa!"

Raffaele MARCIELLO, driver #15: "For sure not the weekend we wanted. It's very disappointing, not only for us but also for car #20. We need to make some changes after the last two disappointing Le Mans races for the future in order to improve. Hopefully the 24h of Spa will be a good one. We try our best!"

Robin FRIJNS, driver #20: “Le Mans done. Actually the race started pretty well. We were expecting the Ferraris to be quick, which they were from the start. The Porsche #6 came to the front very early in the race. I think we were good enough for P5 today but we had a drive through penalty during the night which was very painful. We tried to recover from it all the time which we actually never did. In the end we had an engine issue which brought us back about 20 laps. Onto the next one.”