BMW’s Vanthoor “Motivated” to Race With “Rival” Van der Linde

Photo: Sam Cobb/BMW

Dries Vanthoor says he’s “very motivated” to race together with Sheldon van der Linde, whom often battled together for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole positions in separate BMW M Hybrid V8s last year.

The two front-running drivers have been paired up in Team WRT’s No. 24 BMW as part of a driver shuffle that sees Vanthoor’s 2025 co-driver Philipp Eng move over to the No. 25 GTP class entry with Marco Wittmann.

Vanthoor claimed the first four poles of the WeatherTech Championship season last year, although was unable to convert any of those top qualifying runs into wins.

“I think we’re very motivated to race together,” Vanthoor told Sportscar365.

“Obviously last year [in IMSA] was a pretty good year. We were always [each other’s] rival in qualifying and in the race.

“We obviously saw from each other our strengths and weaknesses and I think it was always fun to battle against Sheldon, especially in qualifying.

“But now to put it together, I think, we’ll be a strong lineup. I can’t wait to go.”

While Vanthoor and Eng eventually claimed BMW’s first, and only GTP win of the season at Road America, the Belgian driver believes the new lineup will reap benefits.

“We just have one goal and that’s to win the championship,” said Vanthoor. “That’s our only thing and we spoke about it before.

“He’s stronger on some tracks; I’m stronger on the other tracks. But again, we don’t have anything within each other, so I think it will work out fine.”

Van der Linde added: “We pushed each other to new limits last year.

“That improved me as a driver massively over the year. I really had to dig deep and I think that’s really what made the difference.”

Both drivers, who were new to full-time IMSA competition last year, will again undertake dual-series WeatherTech Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship programs, although remain separated in the WEC Hypercar ranks.

“I think that was one of the main reasons I was able to get to grips with the car so quickly, learn some of the new tracks in IMSA just because I knew the car so well already [in WEC],” said van der Linde about his rookie GTP season.

“It was just about adapting to the new tracks. That definitely made my life easier and it will continue to do so this year.”

The South African also says the fact that both factory programs are now run by WRT will also take the entire effort one step forward.

“A lot of the engineers we have in WEC are also working here in IMSA, which is definitely nice for the crossover between the two programs,” said van der Linde.

“It makes data sharing a lot more transparent, even more than in the past when it was already open, but now it’s just easier to share the data.

“The lineups are the same so it means the guys I’m driving with in IMSA are the same in WEC as well, which is really cool.

“The synergy between everything is just much better.

“The team working together with the drivers; the drivers working with each other and I think that’s what’s going to be the recipe to success this year.”

Last Year’s Rolex 24 a “Stinging Moment” After Near Win

Vanthoor said the 2025 edition of the Rolex 24, where Vanthoor challenged for victory until sustaining late-race front splitter issues with his No. 24 BMW, was a tough pill to swallow.

He and co-drivers Eng, Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen were relegated to a fourth place result, behind the pair of Porsche Penske Motorsport entries and the second-placed No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06.

“It’s always a bit of a stinging moment when you lose a big chance of winning it because of the issue,” said Vanthoor.

“It always hurts but at the end of the day, I tried my best at the time with the package I had.

“Unfortunately it was just not really possible and it didn’t work out.

“Obviously it’s not fun to come back and face it but it’s gone now. It’s a year ago; we are here for another chance. That’s how racing works. You have to forget and go on.”

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