Kevin Magnussen can be a part of the BMW World Endurance Championship driver line-up and can compete in three endurance rounds of the IMSA Sportscar Championship when the German manufacturer unveils its LMDh plans for next yr.
The former Formula 1 driver will join the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 line-up alongside Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor, effectively replacing Marco Wittmann within the line-up that can run within the BMW IMSA LMDh program, while the number 20 sister automobile has Robin Frijns unchanged within the line-up , Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde.
Magnussen's previous sports automobile experience features a season in Chip Ganassi Racing's Cadillac DPi-VR throughout the 2021 IMSA campaign, through which he and Renger van der Zande won in Detroit.
He also competed in the one 24 Hours of Le Mans within the LMP2 class in 2021 and competed within the Gulf 12 Hours aboard a Ferrari 488 GT3 in 2022.
BMW also begins its third season within the IMSA Sportscar Championship in 2025 with RLL, with van der Linde and Vanthoor taking over a dual role, competing as regular drivers in each WEC and IMSA. Vanthoor will share the #24 BMW with Philipp Eng, while van der Linde and Wittmann will drive the #25 sister automobile.
Due to scheduling conflicts between WEC and IMSA, BMW will field only two drivers per automobile at May's WEC Spa-Francorchamps round, with Vanthoor and van der Linde competing in IMSA's Laguna Seca round on the identical weekend.
Meanwhile, in IMSA endurance racing, BMW will name its full lineup in 2025. Magnussen will join the No. 24 automobile within the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, while Marciello will join that entry because the fourth driver within the Daytona 24 hours in January.
#15 BMW M WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 Team: Dan Harper, Max Hesse
Photo: Shameem Fahath
In the No. 25 automobile, Frijns will complement Magnussen's program, and Rene Rast will turn into the fourth driver of the automobile at Daytona.
“For our driver team, this means focus and specialization,” said Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport. “The more time our drivers spend behind the wheel of the BMW M Hybrid V8, the higher they are going to understand its handling and the more feedback they are going to find a way to offer to our engineers.
“The aim is to accentuate the event of the BMW M Hybrid V8 in cooperation with team specialists and BMW M Motorsport.
“We are also helped by the fact that some drivers compete in both championships, which further improves the exchange of information. We are convinced that this combination of our forces will bring us benefits.”
Earlier this yr, the WEC considered banning two-seater teams within the Hypercar class – a proposal recommend by BMW's WRT team – but when it was abandoned, BMW saw a possibility to pursue this selection.
“Of course, the schedule overlap in May is not ideal, but we have a statutory option to compete in the FIA ​​WEC 6 Hours with two drivers per car, which we will take advantage of,” Roos added.
“The proven fact that the season starts in January with the 24 Hours of Daytona may be very useful for us. This allows us to have all eight drivers together for an extended time period in the beginning of the season, which helps us achieve optimal synchronization. “
Briton Nick Yelloly, who has been racing for RLL BMW in IMSA for the past two seasons, has left the team and joined the Meyer Shank Racing Acura team with van der Zande.
The announcement made no mention of Jesse Krohn, who worked with Eng on BMW's only victory of the 2024 IMSA season at Indianapolis, or Connor De Phillippi, who has worked with Yelloly for the past two seasons.
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