BMW Has Already Determined Eng’s Replacement in GTP

Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI

BMW has already determined Philipp Eng’s replacement in its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship program according to its motorsport director Andreas Roos.

The German manufacturer, which will enter the second seasons with Team WRT as the sole operator of the BMW M Hybrid V8 across both the WeatherTech Championship and WEC, has yet to announce its driver lineups.

However, Sportscar365 understands that Dan Harper has been the favorite to land the seat in the No. 25 BMW.

The 25-year-old British driver, who won this year’s Rolex 24 Daytona with Paul Miller Racing’s GTE-Pro effort, took part in a full season with the team in 2025, scoring class wins at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans.

Harper, who turned laps in BMW’s Dallara-chassied LMDh car in the 2024 WEC Bahrain rookie test (pictured above), has completed multiple tests with the M Hybrid V8 since, including another recent outing.

Roos, however, wouldn’t confirm the identity of the driver. “For sure we have already taken a decision,” he told Sportscar365. “We have to wait until the 4th of December, our Night of Trophies, [for an announcement].”

Harper has been been integrated into Anthony McIntosh’s BMW M4 GT3 EVO customer program with Team WRT since the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series and through this year’s full WEC LMGT3 season, as well as the Suzuka 1000km, having been hand-picked by McIntosh.

However, he’s been notably replaced by fellow ex-BMW Junior Max Hesse for McIntosh’s 2026-27 Asian campaign, which has its second and third events bookended around the Roar Before the Rolex 24 and Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Roos insisted not to read into the fact that Harper was recently testing the car.

“All of them have been testing,” he said. “Max Hesse was testing, Kelvin [van der Linde] was already testing the car, Charles [Weerts] was testing, also recently. We keep them busy and keep them in the loop.

“Also, especially for Max Hesse, he’s doing a lot of simulator development for us and he’s sitting often during the race weekend or in the development phase, he’s sitting a lot in the simulator.

“You also have to give these guys track time in the car because how should they really judge if we do the right thing on the simulator when they don’t have the correlation to the race car.

“This is also important for us. This is why we always put them in.”

Roos said he wouldn’t rule out having one of its full-season WEC drivers taking the seat, joining the expected returning Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde, who have pulled double duty for the last two seasons.

“In theory you can share more because there are no clash next year,” he said.

BMW is expected to maintain a largely unchanged lineup across both series, with Eng’s replacement likely to be the only significant change.

However, Marco Wittmann, who co-drove with Eng this year, faces uncertainty as the German has undertaken dual programs alongside DTM, with the two series facing multiple clashes next year.

Wittmann is a two-time DTM champion, having claimed more than 20 wins and 50 podiums in the series, dating back to Class One regulations.

Roos, meanwhile, said the split from Eng, who had been a BWW factory driver for 11 years, was mutual.

“In the end we had a discussion during the season and in the end, we found a mutual agreement,” he said. “Philipp also wanted to do something else and this is how we took the decision in the end.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John