Fry: BMW COTA Test Focused on Rolex 24, GTP Debut Prep

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

BMW M Team RLL’s final test of 2022 with its LMDh car was focused on race preparation for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season ahead according to the team’s vice present of IMSA operations Brandon Fry.

A single BMW M Hybrid V8 took part in a two-day outing at Circuit of The Americas just prior to Christmas, the same race chassis that completed build during the IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway earlier in December.

Fry, who has overseen Team RLL’s move from the GT ranks to the new-for-2023 GTP class in the WeatherTech Championship, explained that the COTA test helped validate a number of procedure-related items with the car and team.

“COTA was our last test we did before the end of the year,” he said. “Because it’s not a track on the championship [calendar] that focused on a lot of [new] things.

“How do we deal with certain failures? Pitstop work, things like that. It was less of an ultimate performance-related test.

“[Instead] it was our last chance to work through some things to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be going into Daytona.”

BMW was the final LMDh manufacturer to begin its on-track testing program, in late July, and encountered several reliability issues through its European and U.S.-based programs in the months since.

The Indianapolis-based RLL squad took delivery of its first test chassis in September, which began an intensive period for the Bobby Rahal-led organization and German manufacturer.

“Since the car came over to the U.S., we did 33 days at some sort of an event, whether it was a track test, the IMSA homologation period, or whatever,” Fry explained.

“Thirty three out of 100 days which concluded at COTA. There was a lot of travel in that. There was a lot of time where the car was out [running].

“This was a final test where we could say, ‘Alright, let’s get everything in race mode and work the way we will on race [weekends] in preparation for Daytona.’

“[It was] not so much [focused] in some of the issues we need to go through with the car that were powertrain-related or learnings about the fragileness of the car.”

Fry confirmed that the team plans to shake down its second race chassis at Sebring International Raceway just prior to load-in at Daytona later this month for the Roar and subsequent Rolex 24.

RLL staff have only two days off work this month in the buildup to the WeatherTech Championship season-opener.

“It’s been a huge challenge and it’s a huge challenge on all of the guys,” Fry said of the work hours.

“I think we’ve got a lot of really good guys here for putting up. Seven [a.m.] to 7 [p.m.] seems like a normal day right now and they only get longer with that, and a lot of weekend work.

“For me, in a normal year, what I think is the beauty of this championship, is that it exposes you if you’re not prepared to go racing at Daytona.

“There’s 64 hours of racing that we’ll do this year. [Daytona] is a little over 37 percent [of that].

“After that you’re followed up by the Sebring 12-hour race. January and March [has] two big races. By the time you’ve been through Sebring, you’ve been through 56 percent of the racing of the year.

“For the guys, that’s the thing we keep telling them. It’s a lot of work and we appreciate everything everybody’s doing. But after we get through Daytona, it will be a little less work; I don’t think we’ll go back to normal.

“After you go through Sebring, you’ll go to what’s more normal [in racing].

“That’s the challenges since the car has come over. We’re not alone. Everyone [in the IMSA paddock] is pretty well fatigued.

“We’re going to be excited to go racing because it means we’re getting closer to the end of all the hard work we’ve been putting in.”

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