BMW Completes Five-Day LMDh Test at Barcelona

BMW has completed a five-day LMDh test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where three factory drivers turned their first laps in the in-development BMW M Hybrid V8.

Sheldon van der Linde, Augusto Farfus, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly took turns behind the wheel of the Dallara-based prototype, which will make its race debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class next year.

The Monday-to-Friday test included the first LMDh laps for two-time DTM champion Wittmann, two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner Farfus and 2020 Nürburgring 24 winner Yelloly.

Van der Linde carried out shakedown duties at Varano, a track situated near the headquarters of BMW’s chassis partner Dallara, last month alongside Connor De Phillippi.

According to a BMW M Motorsport spokesperson, the Barcelona test focused on “performance development, understanding the car and all the functionalities.”

They added that the engineering team “took the chance to solve minor issues” during the week. A mileage number for the five days has not been disclosed.

The Barcelona visit marked the first running for the BMW M Hybrid V8 at an FIA Grade 1 facility, as well as the third different track in total.

It is understood that after the initial shakedown week at Varano, the BMW LMDh was taken to the similarly-named Vairano circuit — also in Italy — where BMW Junior Team members Dan Harper, Neil Verhagen and Max Hesse sampled the hybrid-powered car for the first time.

BMW has stated that it will transport its first test car to the U.S next month, to prepare for homologation ahead of Team RLL’s two-car factory program in GTP next year.

Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos told Sportscar365 last month that the manufacturer will “concentrate on one test car, getting everything to work and going into performance testing for reliability, endurance runs and race simulations.”