BMW M TEAM WRT KICKS OFF 2025 FIA WEC SEASON WITH STRONG PERFORMANCE IN QATAR

RACE HIGHLIGHTS

Hypercar: P4 and P7 in a hard-fought battle at the front

LMGT3: Podium finish for The Bend Team WRT

Next up for Team WRT

With a solid start to its 2025 season—already securing three victories in three races before this FIA WEC opener in Qatar—Team WRT now turns its focus to the first round of the GT World Challenge season, scheduled for April 12th at Circuit Paul Ricard. The team will announce its driver line-ups for the series in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, preparation for the next round of the FIA WEC is already underway, with an intense month of testing across Europe throughout March as the team continues to push forward.

FIGURES

FACTS

Qualifying HYPERCAR:

Car #15: P5 (Dries Vanthoor)

Car #20: P4 (Robin Frijns)

Hyperpole HYPERCAR:

Car #15: P2 (Dries Vanthoor)

Car #20: P6 (Robin Frijns)

Qualifying LMGT3:

Car #31: P14 (Yasser Shahin)

Car #46: P6 (Ahmad Al Harthy)

Hyperpole LMGT3:

Car #46: P8 (Valentino Rossi)

Starting drivers:

#15: Kevin Magnussen

#20: René Rast

#31: Yasser Shahin

#46: Ahmad Al Harthy

Race – 1^st hour:

Safe start for #15 and #20, respectively 3^rd and 6^th

Good start for #46 and #31, respectively 7^th and 12^th

FCY - Marshalls on track

#15 lost 6 places: pit speed limiter problem at restart of FCY

#15 Driver change to Marciello + nose change due to small damage

End of 1^st hour: #20 in P2, #15 in P16, #46 in P4 (in class), #31 in P11 (in class)

Race – 2^nd hour:

#20 Driver change to Frijns

FCY - Marshalls on track

#31 Driver change to Boguslavskiy

#15 Driver change to Vanthoor

End of 2nd hour: #20 in P7, #15 in P14, #46 in P2 (in class), #31 in P6 (in class)

Race - 3rd hour:

VSC - Car in gravel

#31 Driver change to Shahin

Safety Car

Safety Car – Debris on track

End of 3rd hour: #20 in P4, #15 in P10, #46 in P4 (in class), #31 in P11 (in class)

Race - 4th hour:

#46 Driver change to Rossi

#31 5-sec time penalty – pitstop infringement

#31 Driver change to Boguslavskiy

#20 Driver change to van der Linde

FCY – Debris on track

#15 Drive-through penalty – incident

End of 4th hour: #20 in P7, #15 in P12, #46 in P6 (in class), #31 in P9 (in class)

Race - 5th hour:

#15 Driver change to Magnussen

VSC – Debris on track

End of 5th hour: #20 in P4, #15 in P11, #46 in P6 (in class), #31 in P7 (in class)

Race - 6th hour:

#46 Driver change to van der Linde

#20 Driver change to Rast

Safety Car

Safety Car – Car stopped on track

End of 6th hour: #20 in P5, #15 in P10, #31 in P5 (in class), #46 in P6 (in class)

Race - 7th hour:

#31 Driver change to Farfus

#15 Driver change to Marciello

#46 Driver change to Rossi

End of 7th hour: #20 in P5, #15 in P8, #31 in P3 (in class), #46 in P6 (in class)

Race – 8th hour:

#20 Driver change to van der Linde

FCY – Debris on track

#46 Drive-through - Track limits

End of 8th hour: #20 in P3, #15 in P7, #31 in P2 (in class), #46 in P9 (in class)

Race – 9th hour:

#15 Driver change to Vanthoor

#20 Driver change to Frijns

#46 Driver change to van der Linde

#46 Drive-through – Track limits

#31 Driver change to Boguslavskiy

End of 9th hour: #15 in P6, #20 in P7, #31 in P6 (in class), #46 in P9 (in class)

Race – 10^th hour:

#46 30’ Stop & Go penalty – Track limits

End of 10^th hour: #15 in P4, #20 in P7, #31 in P3 (in class), #46 in P11 (in class)

RACE RESULTS

Hypercar:

1/ Fuoco – Molina – Nielsen (Ferrari 499P) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 318 laps

2/ Hanson – Kubica – Ye (Ferrari 499P) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ + 2.348

3/ Calado – Giovinazzi – Pier Guidi (Ferrari 499P) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ + 2.677

4/ Magnussen – Marciello ​ - Vanthoor (BMW M Hybrid V8) ​ ​ ​ ​ + 9.907

5/ Buemi – Hartley – Hirakawa (Toyota GR010 Hybrid) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ + 19.628

7/ Frijns – Rast – Van der Linde (BMW M Hybrid V8) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ + 36.388

LMGT3:

1/ Edgar – Juncadella – Keating (Corvette Z06 LMGT3 R) ​ ​ 287 laps

2/ Baud – Cottingham – Saucy (McLaren 720 S LMGT3 EVO) ​ + 0.493

3/ Boguslavskiy – Farfus – Shahin (BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO) + 1 lap

4/ Barnicoat – Gehrsitz – Robin (Lexus RC F LMGT3) ​ + 1 lap

5/ Heriau – Mann – Rovera (Ferrari 296 LMGT3) ​ ​ + 1 lap

11/ Al Harthy – Rossi – Van der Linde (BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO) + 3 laps

Vincent VOSSE, Team Principal Team WRT: “Looking
​at where we were in Qatar one year ago, this was a very big improvement. We can all be proud of this achievement. Not being on the podium in the end with our Hypercar is a bit tough, but the Ferraris were hard to catch. The guys did an incredible job, and we take this good result home with us. Of course we want more, but we have scored good points here. In LMGT3 we had a difficult weekend and not the fastest car, but still finishing on the podium with the #31 car is very positive. The #46 seemed to lose a bit of speed during the race. We must analyse, why!”

Timur BOGUSLAVSKIY, driver #31: “At the end, we achieved a podium. I think the team did a very good job and we deserved it. I am very happy to get my first podium in the FIA WEC. It has been a nice start to the season to be on the podium and to collect vital points. I hope we will be even stronger at Imola and win there!”

Yasser SHAHIN, driver #31: “It has been a remarkably interesting week. At the Prologue it gave us some sort of confidence and then all of a sudden, when we came back for free practice, the track had changed significantly. It was a very important race for driver chemistry, because we all got to know each other, and for team chemistry. I’m thrilled to be part of this team because the quality of execution is exactly what I was hoping for, hopefully I played my part today and the result exceeded our expectations.”

Augusto FARFUS, driver #31: “When you see where we started and where we ended the race – no one would have predicted that. This shows what a great team we have behind us and what a great lineup because we executed it perfectly. Being able to take home a podium just feels like a victory. After qualifying we could not expect this result. P3 gives us good hope that we can keep the momentum.”

Kelvin VAN DER LINDE, driver #46: “It is frustrating to end the race outside the top 10. Within the team and driver line up, we have so much potential. For some reason, we were lacking on pace compared to the sister car, which the team will investigate as soon as possible, and we need to put the penalties behind us. We must accept what we are given, and we will regroup and move forward going into Imola.”

Dries VANTHOOR, driver #15: “After starting second, P4 is maybe not the result we had hoped for, but I think we did not have the cleanest of races, also from my side. Without that we probably had a shot of fighting for P3 even though the Ferraris were untouchable this weekend. They were flying in every session, so it was very difficult to beat them. This was already clear from the beginning. I think we can be happy with P4 and at the end we are, we just need to do a clean execution, including myself. And I think we can be happy with the improvements we made compared to last year. Back then, we got lapped three times in one or two hours and now, we are in P4. It shows that the car is fast now, and we have improved a lot. We are still not there; it clearly shows that we are still not the fastest, so we need to keep improving.”

Kevin MAGNUSSEN, driver #15: “Very happy! It is the best result we could have done with the pace we had. I still think we could execute the race better, but the good thing is that the pitstops and the strategy were very good. The team did a very good job. We just had a few hiccups that we will certainly solve them. BMW and Team WRT had definitely made a big step with the car which is very nice to see!”

Sheldon VAN DER LINDE, driver #20: “It was not bad at all. We can be really happy with the progress we made in one year. When you look where we were last year, both cars out of the top ten, with no real chance to fight any other car on track, we have made a huge step forward. And I think we can be really proud of BMW M Motorsport for giving us a car we can properly race with; it has really been a huge step from their side. Drivability has improved a lot, and it allows us to really race other cars now. It is a good feeling as a driver because you are feeling that you are also doing a better job as a driver.”

Find more pictures by clicking on the Media Gallery below.

Media gallery: WEC - QATAR 1812KM

38 images

W RACING TEAM

Luna de Wilde

Press Officer, W RACING TEAM

• E. luna.dewilde@w-racingteam.com
• M. +32471914237
• W. w-racingteam.com