Eng: BMW “Not Giving Up” on GTP Championship Hopes

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Philipp Eng said BMW M Team RLL is “not giving up” on its outside chance of winning the GTP tile in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, although admits that he and co-driver Dries Vanthoor will “need some luck” in the final two races.

Eng and Vanthoor, co-drivers of the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8, sit third in the GTP standings, 181 points behind Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell and 106 points from second-placed Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy.

The Austrian and Vanthoor are coming off a breakthrough first victory of the season last time out at Road America, while Eng heads into this weekend’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the defending race winner, following a 1-2 finish for the team last year.

“We’ve had really good momentum,” said Eng. “I think we’ve had a strong first part of the season, especially in qualifying.

“But then to convert the strong qualifying results into a victory and two more podium positions in Laguna and Long Beach was really good.

“Unfortunately, we lacked a bit of execution of the races, and that’s why we are [181] points behind our friends from Stuttgart (Porsche).

“Nevertheless, we believe that our car is really strong.

“I think as a team, we’ve progressed a lot during the progress of the season, and our goal is to win the championship.”

With a maximum of 770 points still up for grabs between the six-hour race at The Brickyard and ten-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Eng admitted it will be an uphill battle against the pair of Penske Porsche 963s.

Adding to the difficulty is that there will be only 12 GTP entries for this weekend, following Proton Competition’s withdrawal, which narrows the potential points swing between first and last.

“It will not be easy, because the competition especially in IMSA across all classes, is insanely high, and it’s so cool to be part of this era of sports car racing,” said Eng.

“We as BMW, we feel strong, we feel confident.

“From a driver perspective, I can tell you that the car feels really good, especially in the last event at Road America.

“We had really good pace, we had really good drivability, and I hope we can convert that aspect into a very good end of the season, which would mean to win both races, both remaining races.

“We need we need some luck in the end because [181] points in this championship is a lot, but we are certainly not giving up and we will fight very hard as a team.”

Eng: Petit Le Mans Will Be ‘Emotional’ in RLL’s Final Race With BMW

Next month’s season finale will be “a little bit emotional” for Eng, as Team RLL’s tenure with BMW will come to a close after a 17-year partnership in IMSA competition.

Eng, who has been with the Bobby Rahal-co-owned team for the last decade, said he has fond memories from the early days of the BMW M8 GTE program with the team.

“It’s my tenth season with the team,” he said. “My first race was Daytona 2018 with the BMW M8 GTE, the first ever race of that race car.

“I have a very emotional connection to that car and to that team because it was the first time I was really involved in a proper, you know, works environment with BMW and RLL; we’ve won Daytona together, we’ve had some great success in GTP.

“I’ve had a really good time during the M8 program, it really made me a better driver because I got to experience what it means to, you know race for a works team and not only try and drive as fast as possible around in circles, but also to be trying and lead a team and leading a direction in the development of a race car, which was a first time for me.

“Looking back at the ten years, it’s been extremely helpful, making me a better race driver and it’s such a privilege to be racing for Bobby Rahal.

“He’s a legend, not only as a team owner, but he’s a legend as a racing driver, and I respect him so much for everything he has achieved. Not only as a race driver, but also as a team owner.

“I’ve made so many good friends in the last ten years with mechanics, engineers, with Bobby and the management team.

“I don’t want to think about end of race Petit Le Mans, because it will be definitely a little bit emotional.”

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