Magnussen “Can’t Wait” for Top-Class Le Mans Debut

BMW driver Kevin Magnussen says he “can’t wait” to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a four-year absence, saying his past experience of the Circuit de la Sarthe will help him on his first top-class outing in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s blue riband event.

Magnussen has one previous start in the French endurance classic under his belt, which came when he joined his father Jan and Anders Fjordbach in a High Class Racing Oreca 07 Gibson in the LMP2 class in 2021.

A second start appeared to be on the cards a year later, this time with Peugeot, before he departed the program when an opportunity to return to Formula 1 emerged in 2022.

Following the end of his second tenure with the Haas F1 Team, Magnussen signed to become a BMW factory driver and has since contested five races with the Bavarian manufacturer: the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring as well as the opening three WEC rounds in Qatar, Imola and Spa-Francorchamps.

When asked if his dual program in the WEC and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup has given a good baseline for Le Mans, Magnussen agreed, also hinting that the experience from his last racing outing at the Circuit de la Sarthe will come in helpful.

“I think so,” he said. “I think I’ve had some good experience now in these races that I’ve done.

“Le Mans, I’ve done that once before, so I feel more prepared for it than [Spa], coming [there] for the first time in a prototype it’s also a steep learning curve because it’s very different to Formula 1.

“So at least in Le Mans I have had some experience and now five races under my belt with BMW and three with WRT so I feel good. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Dane further hinted that the opening WEC races of the calendar have allowed him to integrate well with the Vincent Vosse-led WRT operation.

“Honestly, from the very first test, it’s been very good,” he said. “This is a great team. The people here are really fantastic, they’re racers. They’re really good at what they’re doing.

“So yeah, I feel in very good hands at WRT. Can’t wait for Le Mans.”

BMW to Make Decision on No. 20 Car’s Sao Paulo Lineup After Le Mans

Magnussen raced as part of a two-driver lineup at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, only sharing the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 with Raffaele Marciello as Dries Vanthoor was unavailable due to a WeatherTech Championship clash.

BMW is set to face a similar scenario with July’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo regarding the sister No. 20 machine, as WRT boss Vosse previously confirmed to Sportscar365 that Robin Frijns will not compete in Brazil due to his ABB FIA Formula E commitments.

The Spa race gave BMW real-world experience working with a two-driver lineup, with BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos happy with how it played out.

“We said from the beginning it’s possible to do it with two or three drivers, so at the end there are positives and negatives,” Roos told Sportscar365.

“A negative thing for sure is you have to be a bit more careful with track limits because the track limits are for accounted not per car but per driver.

“So there you have to be a bit more careful, but our drivers managed very well and on the other hand they get more driving time. So it’s pros and cons.”

Roos noted that a decision on Sao Paulo will be made “later on” after Le Mans next month, also pointing out that BMW has more drivers available in Brazil because the GTP class will not be in action at the clashing IMSA race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

This theoretically frees up Marco Wittmann or Philipp Eng to step into the No. 20 car to replace Frijns should they be needed.

“We haven’t decided, but yeah I think after Le Mans we know what we do,” said Roos.

“But we have strong drivers so we have enough drivers in our lineup who can jump in, so we will see what we do.

“There is, at the next race, there is no IMSA [GTP] clash when Robin is missing, so there would be experienced drivers available.”