Van der Linde: Fuel Capacity Reduction “Not Ideal” for BMW

Kelvin van der Linde admits a loss of fuel capacity for BMW ahead of this weekend’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour is “not ideal” for the marque’s hopes of defending its 2025 victory, but believes the strategic complexion of the race will be different this year.

Van der Linde, who was part of last year’s winning Team WRT lineup together with younger brother Sheldon and Augusto Farfus, is aiming to make it back-to-back victories sharing the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Charles Weerts and Jordan Pepper.

BMW dominated last year’s Bathurst 12 Hour, securing a 1-2 finish, boosted by an ability to run a lap longer on fuel than many of its rival manufacturers.

However, for this year, the Bavarian marque’s fuel capacity has been cut by 8 liters to 100 liters, while Mercedes-AMG (106 liters), Ferrari (105 liters) and Porsche (101 liters) have all seen three-liter reductions compared to 2025 levels.

Asked for his thoughts on the change, van der Linde acknowledged it will make BMW’s life harder, but also pointed out that the expanded 35-car field means that track position will have even more importance this year at Mount Panorama.

“Essentially, we won the race last year with our fuel saving strategy, which may have caught some [people’s] eyes and so on,” van der Linde told Sportscar365.

“I think the actual adjustment was a percentage change, which hit us a bit harder than other manufacturers. Looking at the pure numbers, it’s not ideal as we lose more fuel capacity than the rest in percentage terms.

“But we’ll have to wait and see to know what impact that will have.

“Generally the tone of the race will be different this year with having way more cars. It puts a bigger emphasis on track position. You probably won’t be able to save as much fuel as last year because the benefit of track position is going to help a lot.

“It will be harder to come back through the field, so mistakes will be punished more.”

One other change for BMW heading into this weekend’s Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener is that the marque is utilizing the M4 GT3 EVO at Bathurst for the first time, having won the 2025 edition while the car was in pre-EVO spec.

Van der Linde reported that the upgraded machine felt better to drive around the iconic Australian event even if the raw lap times don’t reflect it, as the No. 32 car ended up fourth-fastest in Friday’s third practice session.

“The EVO package is delivering on what we learned last year during the European season,” said van der Linde. “It feels well balanced.

“The general trend in GT3 is that an EVO package doesn’t necessarily make the car go a second a lap faster. It’s more working on the systems, making it more efficient and better on tire degradation, better in mixed conditions.

“On the stopwatch we are not seeing a big difference to last year, but in terms of driveability and things the eye can’t see, I think we have a better package this year.”

Farfus, who is driving the sister No. 46 WRT BMW with Raffaele Marciello and Valentino Rossi, said the reduction in fuel capacity may be rendered less relevant if an increase in grid size leads to more cautions throughout the race.

Last year, the final green flag period lasted four hours and 35 minutes, the second-longest period of caution-free running in event history.

“It has a big impact,” Farfus told Sportscar365. “We also have a different [turbo] boost level, which could also impact fuel consumption.

“Last year was a race decided a lot by fuel management, and this year it will probably be the same. We don’t know how much the others can save.

“But with more cars in the field, there might be more safety cars, which would we are not as affected. If it’s a full green race, of course, the fuel can have a big impact. If we have a lot of full-course yellows, it can be different. 

“I haven’t counted but easily 15 cars that could win the race, including some Pro-Am cars. I am excited to see how it goes. It will be a challenge.

“We have two strong cars, so we just have to try and repeat what we did last year.”