BMW Aiming to Keep Title Hopes Alive After Tough Quali

BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos is determined to “keep the championship open until the last race” despite a Barcelona FIA World Endurance Championship qualifying session that was “definitely below expectations.”

The German manufacturer’s ambitions of closing the 23-point gap to Toyota in the manufacturers’ standings and narrowing Robin Frijns and Rene Rast’s 24-point defecit to the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid crew in the drivers’ table took a hit as both WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s failed to make Hyperpole at Barcelona, while the No. 8 machine will start from the front row.

“Definitely in terms of the championship it’s far away from ideal,” Roos said of Toyota’s front row.

“You have to always be there in this championship and you can’t afford to miss opportunities to score points.

“Our clear goal is to move forward, score as many points as possible and keep the championship open until the last race.

“We were hoping already to close the gap [to Toyota] here, but it looks like it will be difficult for us to do that. That’s still our goal.”

Roos was not expecting to fight for pole at Barcelona but was still frustrated to only start 13th and 16th for Sunday’s race.

“We knew it would be difficult here, it’s not our favorite track, but we were still expecting to get at least one, maybe two cars into Hyperpole,” said Roos.

“We were clear we wouldn’t fight for pole, but to have no car in Hyperpole is clearly disappointing.”

Ferrari’s faint title ambitions also took a hit in qualifying as the pair of factory 499Ps will start eighth and 14th — with Antonio Giovinazzi given an additional one-place penalty for impeding.

It is currently 54 points adrift of Toyota in third in the manufacturers’ championship, while the No. 51 crew are 30 points off the summit of the drivers’ table.

However, both BMW and Ferrari could benefit from the wet weather predicted for Sunday’s race that could help shake up the competitive order and enable them to gain back ground on Toyota.

But No. 51 Ferrari driver James Calado insisted that any thoughts of successfully defending the title from last year were “not in my mind.”

“Mathematically it’s possible but the likelihood is very slim,” he added.

“We go into this race and Monza with the same fighting spirit as always, anything can happen.

“If the Toyota didn’t finish and we were to win, we’re straight back in the fight, so anything can happen. But the odds of that happening are not on our side.”

The Italian marque also believed it was not in the fight for Barcelona pole but lamented a scruffy qualifying that prevented both cars from starting further up the grid.

Antonio Fuoco’s best lap in the No. 50 machine was deleted for track-limits abuses, while Giovinazzi encountered traffic on his run after also having a time scratched off.

“A small mistake when you need to do more because you’re a bit far from the others, this kind of thing can happen,” Fuoco told Sportscar365.

“Unluckily, it was on the last corner and I needed to abort the next one, which was actually quite good on sector one.”

Alessandro Pier Guidi, who shares the No. 51 machine with Giovinazzi and Calado, added: “We were hoping for something a bit better. It probably was not the best quali, not the cleanest.

“For sure we have no pace to fight for the pole position but P4, P5, P6 was our target and the best possibility.”

Jamie Klein contributed to this report