On its third attempt, BMW M Team WRT celebrated its long-awaited first major success at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. In an exciting race, Robin Frijns, René Rast, and Sheldon van der Linde secured second place in the #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8. It was the first overall podium at Le Mans for BMW M Motorsport since its victory with the BMW V12 LMR in 1999. A repeat of the historic triumph was within reach, but in the end, final driver Frijns was 10.9 seconds short of the winning Toyota.
The historic Le Mans weekend began as early as Thursday, when the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, with drivers Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello, and Dries Vanthoor claimed the first pole position for BMW M Motorsport and BMW M Team WRT at Le Mans. In the race, the #20 crew, starting from fourth on the grid, took the lead early on and led the field at times. A safety car period about six hours before the finish brought the field back together and set the stage for a thrilling showdown right up to the final lap. While car #20 celebrated at the end with a podium finish, car #15 retired early. After an unavoidable collision and a puncture, a technical defect ultimately forced the crew to retire the car.
In the LMGT3 class, things looked promising after qualifying with starting positions five and six at the beginning of the race. However, over the course of the 24 hours, the two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs were unable to keep up with the pace at the front. Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael, and Darren Leung finished in seventh place. Their teammates Dan Harper, Parker Thompson, and Anthony McIntosh retired with gearbox problems.
What a magnificent and historic result! Pole position and second place on the podium – incredible! We have worked for years to be successful at Le Mans again, and now we have reaped the reward with second place.
That was one of the strongest races we have ever had as a team with the BMW M Hybrid V8. Absolutely flawless. No penalties, no bad pit stops – nothing. Congratulations to everyone in my team and at BMW M Motorsport! We are one unit, we are making progress, and we deserved this podium. I’m not disappointed at all that we didn’t win. Toyota deserved it – congratulations!
Driver statements.
Robin Frijns (BMW M Team WRT, #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8, 2nd place): “I honestly don’t quite know what to say yet. Second place at Le Mans is a fantastic achievement, but seeing the victory so close does hurt a bit. The last safety car brought the Toyotas, who had problems just before, back into the game. That was tough for us, as they had a bit more pace than we did. We led for long stretches of the race, but in the end, second place was the maximum we could achieve after the safety car.”
René Rast (BMW M Team WRT, #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8, 2nd place): “It’s a bittersweet podium. On the one hand, it’s a great achievement to be on the podium at Le Mans. The team and we as drivers did everything right, I would say. But unfortunately, Le Mans didn’t choose us as winners this time. We led for long phases of the race, but the last safety car threw our strategy off a bit and when you’re so close to victory, of course you want to win.”
Sheldon van der Linde (BMW M Team WRT, #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8, 2nd place): “At first, I don’t really know whether to laugh or cry. When you finish just ten seconds behind the winner after 24 hours, it’s not easy to accept at first. But if we look at the past two years and see the huge progress we’ve made, we can be very proud. The team gave everything to put us in this position. Of course, you never know if you’ll get another chance to win Le Mans, but we’ll definitely try again.”
Kevin Magnussen (BMW M Team WRT, #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, DNF): “It just wasn’t our race. A few things went wrong, but that’s also Le Mans. Luckily, our sister car made up for our bad luck and scored a fantastic podium. That’s ultimately a great success for all of us. As for us in car #15: We’ll come back stronger.”
Augusto Farfus (Team WRT, #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 7th place LMGT3): “First of all, congratulations to the Hypercar crew on the podium. It was a great fight and a deserved result. Our race was tough. We did everything right, had no technical problems, and nailed every pit stop. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to fight for the podium. We simply didn’t have the pace. Still, it’s always a great honour to be on the grid here at Le Mans.”
Dan Harper (Team WRT, #69 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, DNF): “I had imagined my first Le Mans, just like Parker and Anthony, differently. But you also have to see it this way: I was here for the first time at this very special event, and it was an honor to be part of it. Hopefully, there will be many more Le Mans appearances to come! This time, unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace to run at the front. Then came the gearbox problem. Nevertheless, we can be proud of what we achieved.”