In the fifth race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season in Detroit, BMW M Team RLL was unable to replicate the successes of previous events. With fifth and seventh places on the tight street circuit, the BMW M Hybrid V8s missed the podium in a sprint race for the first time. In qualifying, Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor secured third and fourth on the grid, ending Vanthoor's impressive streak of four consecutive pole positions.
In the 100-minute race, filled with battles and contact, both cars struggled to move forward in the tight field. Van der Linde handed over the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 to Marco Wittmann, while Vanthoor passed the #24 car to Philipp Eng. After a later pit stop, Eng returned to the track ahead of Wittmann and held his position ahead of his teammate until the end. Wittmann crossed the finish line in sixth but lost a position due to a post-race penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.
In the GTD PRO class, both Paul Miller Racing crews delivered a strong qualifying performance, starting from third and fourth. However, the 100-minute race proved disappointing. The #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen suffered technical issues, causing it to lose several laps and ultimately finish 11th in class. The #48 car of Dan Harper and Max Hesse fought for a podium spot for a long time, but after a collision and a subsequent drive-through penalty, Hesse dropped to seventh in class.
Unfortunately, the race in Detroit did not go as we had hoped. After qualifying, things looked promising with third and fourth places in both classes, but unfortunately, we were unable to maintain those positions in a tough race with many contacts.
Driver statements.
Dries Vanthoor (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team RLL, 5th place): "That was a tough race. On my part, I didn’t get a good start and lost two positions. Over the course of the race, we didn’t optimise our strategy. We need to keep working on this and understand why others are doing a better job in this area. We’ll come back fighting next time."
Sheldon van der Linde (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team RLL, 7th place): "What started with a great qualifying and third place unfortunately ended with relatively few points in the race. I was very happy with my lap in qualifying. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalise on the good starting position in the race. That’s something we absolutely need to improve on. I’m confident that we’ll manage to do so in Watkins Glen. The BMW M Hybrid V8 has performed well there in the past, and I hope we can secure our first podium of the season."