Van der Linde: WRT’s Podium a ‘Message to Other Teams’

Sheldon van der Linde said Team WRT’s podium finish on its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a “message to all the other teams: we’re coming.”

Van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast took the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 to a third place overall result in the Florida endurance classic, only behind the winning No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 and No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

The opening round of the WeatherTech Championship marked the first race that the Vincent Vosse-led squad was in charge of BMW’s factory GTP effort, having taken over from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

The transition from RLL to WRT, which already ran BMW’s LMDh program in the FIA World Endurance Championship, involved the team setting up a U.S. base in Kannapolis, N.C. during the off-season.

Van der Linde spoke highly of the team’s effort at Daytona, explaining that the team turned around its fortunes after a disappointing qualifying effort on Thursday where the team placed at the tail end of the GTP field.

“We were very downbeat after qualifying,” van der Linde told Sportscar365. “We were nine-tenths off and we thought that was the pace that the car had.

“We made some big changes and a whole new concept for the race which seemed to work.

“I don’t think we put everything together in qualifying, but I’m really proud of the team.

“I think it’s really impressive what they’ve done within four months. To think that it’s not a team from WEC, it’s 80 percent new.

“It’s like a brand new team running out here and the way the guys work together already is really really impressive.

“This is a message to all the other teams: we’re coming.”

Van der Linde also praised WRT’s standard of execution in its first GTP race, noting that that had been a point of improvement across the final season with Team RLL at the helm.

“I think that’s something we were lacking last year [and] something we hope to improve on this year,” he said. “I think the pace in the car last year was there, a lot of the times we just didn’t execute in the races.

“That’s what we improved most. We just had a drive through penalty for an infringement on the tires. But obviously. this is the learning process.

“All the guys are new to each other. It’s going to take time. I didn’t expect everything to be perfect.

“I think everyone has their own issues throughout the race. We were very happy.”

Vosse was pleased with the debut podium for his squad, declaring after the race that the result “cannot be better.”

“For a first race here in IMSA, for a new program, it’s an incredible achievement from every member of the team, every member of BMW,” he told Sportscar365.

“There was some very hard work behind the scenes and at the end it’s quite an accomplishment.

“You need the right strategy, you need the right fuel, the right tires at the right moment.

“I guess this is what the top three has achieved. It’s exactly what we need for the team.

“For the last few months, they did incredible work and they need a reward and this is a nice one.”

John Dagys contributed to this report