MAXIMUM EXECUTION BY BMW M TEAM WRT AT CHALLENGING 6 HOURS OF SÃO PAULO

MAXIMUM EXECUTION BY BMW M TEAM WRT AT CHALLENGING 6 HOURS OF SÃO PAULO

13/07/2025

São Paulo, Brazil - July 13th, 2025 - The FIA World Endurance Championship returned to South America this weekend for the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, fifth round of the 2025 season. BMW M Team WRT fielded four cars, two BMW M Hybrid V8s in the Hypercar class and two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs in LMGT3, and delivered a clean, well-executed race across both categories. Given the current performance window defined by the regulations and therefore, limited opportunities to fight for podiums, all four entries maximised their potential and reached the finish line.

The weekend also featured two driver changes in the line-up: Marco Wittmann stepped in for Robin Frijns, who was competing in Formula E in Berlin, while Pedro Ebrahim replaced Timur Boguslavskiy, sidelined by illness.

RACE HIGHLIGHTS

• The #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, driven by René Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann, delivered a consistent performance, and crossed the line in P5, the best result of the day for the Belgian team.
• The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, shared by Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor, showed competitive pace throughout the weekend but was delayed by a brake system issue during the opening hour. After extensive repairs, the car rejoined and was classified P17.
• In LMGT3, the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde, executed a trouble-free run and steadily climbed the grid to finish P10 in class.
• The #31 LMGT3, featuring a special Brazil-inspired livery, was driven by Yasser Shahin, Augusto Farfus, and local stand-in Pedro Ebrahim. The car completed the race in P12 and represented a charity initiative supporting several local organisations. In total, €15,000 was raised for Brazilian causes through a joint effort by Team WRT, Augusto Farfus and Timur Boguslavskiy, as part of WRT’s ’We aRe uniTed’ programme, which uses motorsport as a force for good.

LOOKING AHEAD

The FIA WEC now enters its summer break, with the Lone Star Le Mans, Austin, scheduled for September 7th. Team WRT will be back in action before that at Misano on July 19-20 for the third round of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, where the team will defend its lead in the overall and in the Sprint Cup rankings

On this occasion, and after Valentino Rossi’s back-to-back victories in Misano in 2023 and 2024, the team will field a fourth BMW M4 GT3 EVO for the Italian home hero and Raffaele Marciello.

Kevin Magnussen: “Tough day for us out there. We had a brake issue early on that took us out of contention right from the start. These things happen. We've had our share of bad luck this season, but we're staying focused and hopeful that we can turn things around in the last races!”

Pedro Ebrahim “What an incredible weekend! Super proud and super happy to have made my debut in this championship, and to be joining this amazing team that I’ve always looked up to and considered to be the best team in endurance racing in the world. It’s a big pleasure to be part of it and especially in front of my home crowd, family and friends. It was still a very hard weekend. We struggled a lot with pace but despite all of that we executed a perfect race and a perfect weekend with no mistakes. It’s hard to maximise and have no penalties, no issues, no contact. Every driver did his best, we were on top of our game but unfortunately we were not in contention to win or to be on the podium. It’s one of these weekends you will never forget in your life and I hope our paths with WRT can cross again in the future!

Augusto Farfus "It’s incredibly frustrating when you and your crew deliver a perfect race and simply have no chance to keep up with the leaders. Unfortunately, this was evident throughout the weekend. I loved racing in front of my fans in my home country once again, but I would have liked to present myself as more competitive on the track. Under the given circumstances, that was impossible."

Valentino Rossi: "Of course, tenth place isn’t what we came for. We wanted more, we wanted to fight for the podium. But considering our pace and how much we struggled in practice, it’s not bad. The race was good; we didn’t make any mistakes, and the team did a great job. We got the best possible result. But it is what it is. Everyone gave their maximum, even if the performance and pace wasn’t fantastic. We’ll push again next time."

Vincent Vosse "Fifth place for the #20 is the result of an almost flawless race by our team. Even without the drive-through penalty, there wasn’t more in it. That made us the ‘Best of the Rest’ here. That’s good, but we want to be on the podium. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough this time. We’ll need to carefully analyse the cause of the brake issues with the #15. At the moment, we can’t say anything definitive. In the LMGT3 class, we probably had the best-executed races we’ve ever had in the FIA WEC with both cars. Finishing tenth and twelfth says it all, I think."

Marco Wittmann “We maximised our package. P5 was all we had and therefore we can be pretty happy with the result. We had a good car and a good balance. There was not more in it for us today, so this position feels like a podium today. I definitely enjoyed the weekend. It was nice to back in the WEC environment. I loved working again with Team WRT but also with my teammates Sheldon and René”.