Vanthoor: BMW ‘Can’t Take Day Off’ Amidst GTP Upturn

Dries Vanthoor has urged BMW M Team RLL not to rest on its laurels amidst its upturn in form in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, noting that the squad ‘needs to keep going’ and build on the encouraging form shown in the early stages of the season.

BMW delivered arguably its strongest showing in the GTP class to date at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with Vanthoor personally capturing the squad’s first overall pole position and then contending for a race win until the emergence of late-race nose issues.

That eventually led to a fourth-place finish for the Belgian, who then repeated the same result with BMW M Team WRT in the FIA World Endurance Championship opener in Qatar late last month.

Vanthoor subsequently followed that up with a second consecutive pole position on qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

“It’s quite clear that the progress we’ve made has been good,” Vanthoor told Sportscar365.

“It’s been significant so that’s nice to see, especially for everybody who’s been working very hard over the winter and also during last year.

“Still, that doesn’t mean that it’s all done and you can take a day off. We still need to keep going. We’re still not there where we want to be. We still got areas where we can improve.”

Two years ago at Sebring, BMW achieved the first significant result for the M Hybrid V8 when Nick Yelloly, Connor De Phillippi and Sheldon van der Linde captured the car’s maiden podium finish in what was, at the time, only its second race start.

“There’s also been so many changes from that race until now, so it’s been quite significant,” said Vanthoor.

“Also, the changes we did from last year to this year has already been a lot so I do expect that we are competitive here.

“I’m not saying that we’re going to win the race, but for sure we’re going to give it a try.

“It’s going to be difficult but I think we can also give ourselves the chance to fight and I think that is already a big thing compared to last year.”

Vanthoor added that BMW is “missing that final big piece” as it searches the next major breakthrough result after last year’s 1-2 finish in the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Belgian believes that ‘everything is coming together’ for the Munich brand, pointing to its Daytona showing as the evidence of progress made.

“It was there in Daytona for sure,” he said.

“If you think of our things, it could have been. It’s always afterwards, as you say, but there was for sure a chance.

“Coming here, let’s see. For sure, it’s close. Also if you look into Qatar, the last weeks we’ve also had a good result.

“Everything is coming together, we’re just missing that final big piece and it’s coming close.

“When it will happen, I don’t know. Hopefully soon, but it’s already nice to see that know it’s coming together and that’s a nice thing.

“I think it’s already difficult for a lot of other brands as well doing LMDh and LMH to make step forwards. It’s not easy so that’s already a positive.”

Roos: BMW ‘Bringing Everything Together’ After Learning Phase

BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos struck a similarly upbeat tone after Friday’s qualifying outcome, stating he was “super happy” after witnessing Vanthoor’s second consecutive pole.

The German also indicated that the brand is ‘bringing everything together,’ hoping that results will come as a consequence.

“The competition is very tough and you have to really get everything together,” Roos told Sportscar365.

“At the end for us, for BMW, it was also a learning from the beginning and now I think we get everything together and know more and more about the car, the teams, the drivers.

“Everybody is just getting more used to it and knows everything about it and when you then bring everything together then the results are coming.”