Magnussen: First Year With BMW “Such A Pleasure”

Kevin Magnussen has described his first year with BMW’s factory LMDh program as “such a pleasure” as he comes towards the end of his maiden FIA World Endurance Championship season driving for Team WRT.

The Dane signed up with the Munich manufacturer after departing the Haas Formula 1 operation last year, returning to top-class sports car racing after previously driving for Cadillac in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

He was also due to race for Peugeot’s Hypercar program, but departed that effort when an opportunity to rejoin Haas in F1 opened up in early 2022.

After joining BMW, Magnussen stepped into the lineup for the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 in WEC, driving alongside Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello, while also competing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Team RLL.

Magnussen’s life at BMW started with a strong run at Daytona that almost resulted in victory until late-race nose issues struck, while pitlane contact with an Acura GTP car curtailed a competitive run at Sebring.

In WEC, meanwhile, his strongest result to date has been fourth in the ten-hour Qatar season opener.

When asked to reflect on his first year in BMW colors, Magnussen spoke positively, despite the absence of highlight results.

“Personally, I’ve had a year that has been such a pleasure,” Magnussen told Sportscar365. “It’s just been so fun. We’ve been very frustrated when things haven’t gone right and we’ve had bad results, but on the whole…

“What it feels like to be a racing driver right now is just that it’s fun.

“A much bigger part of my job involves driving the car, like a bigger percentage of my time. Less of all this other stuff that you do a lot of in Formula 1.

“Now I just go to races with a bunch of cool guys that are super talented and we just come here to race. That’s the feeling I get. I’m enjoying it a lot.”

Results-wise, Magnussen conceded that his first year left something to be desired, nothing that there were ‘some opportunities that were missed.’

“I think we had hoped to have some better results to show for the progress I think the team has done last year to this year,” said Magnussen.

“I think there were some opportunities that we missed. Whereas, if we had those trophies to show, I think it would have felt much different this year.

“Now we go into some races where probably we’re not going to be so competitive but we have to execute at least to the best that we can. We haven’t always done that.”

Magnussen’s return to sports cars after a second stint with Haas in F1 meant he has had to reacquaint himself with prototype machinery, with the BMW LMDh car also different to the Cadillac DPi-V.R. he raced as part of the Chip Ganassi Racing stable in the WeatherTech Championship.

After previously speaking about the challenges of tuning out “disruptive” references from his time in F1, Magnussen went into further detail about what he has had to learn to extract performance from the Dallara-chassised M Hybrid V8.

“It really wants to understeer if you’re not fully on the limit a little bit,” said Magnussen. “And that limit is then very narrow. And then you have a big snap and it wants to tank slap.

“You really need to put it on the limit of the rear and then dance on that very small little edge. I think that’s very hard to put yourself there and be comfortable with it. It takes some time.

“I think some drivers they don’t like oversteer so much. They don’t like to be on that limit. I find it very challenging, very rewarding to drive.

“Because when you’re on the pace, you feel it. You feel that you’re on the pace.”