BMW Motorsport could not have scripted a better warm-up for Le Mans. At Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, Team WRT locked out the top two positions in the Hypercar class at the 6 Hours of Spa, beating Ferrari, Aston Martin, Toyota, Peugeot, Cadillac, Alpine, and Genesis in the process. It is the BMW M Hybrid V8’s first win in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Robin Frijns, Rene Rast, and Sheldon van der Linde took the victory in the #20 car. Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello, and Dries Vanthoor followed them home in the #15, roughly six weeks before the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Strategy Made The Difference In The #20
The race drew over 100,000 spectators and ran through three safety car periods, the kind of race that tends to sort out the teams that are paying attention from those that aren’t. The #20 crew was paying attention. When the first safety car came out, Frijns, Rast, and van der Linde ran a different strategy to most of the field and came out with an advantage. The two subsequent safety car periods arrived at moments that lined up almost perfectly with their fuel window, which is either good planning or good fortune — probably some of both. The #15 car ran a more conventional race and was still fast enough to hold second place against the full weight of the Hypercar class.
A Bad Day For The GT3 Cars
The M4 GT3 Evo contingent had a rough afternoon. Team WRT’s two entries — the #69 and #32 — finished 11th and 14th in class, a long way from where the car has been on its better weekends. The #32 made things worse by tagging a Porsche under braking for the first corner, which then collected the #51 Ferrari. It was the kind of incident nobody plans for, and it left the Ferrari camp unhappy.
A Farewell To Zanardi
Both BMW hypercars ran with a tribute to Alex Zanardi on the bodywork. The Italian racing driver and Paralympic champion died recently, and BMW — which had worked closely with Zanardi for years — chose Spa to say goodbye. It was a quiet touch on a loud day.
The next round of the WEC is the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. BMW has not won there outright since 1999. Sunday’s result won’t make anyone forget that gap, but it is the kind of momentum that matters when the pressure is highest.
