BMW ‘Fighting Hard’ to Become Consistent Podium Contender

BMW needs to ‘fight hard’ to develop into a consistent podium contender in the FIA World Endurance Championship after it achieved its first top-three finish at Fuji according to motorsport boss Andreas Roos.

Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann captured BMW M Team WRT’s first podium finish when they finished second overall behind race winners Porsche Penske Motorsport in Japan.

That result marked a significant improvement over the previous best result achieved thus far this season, which came when Sheldon van der Linde, Rene Rast and Robin Frijns finished sixth during the 6 Hours of Imola in April.

That performance followed on from a point on debut in Qatar in what Roos described as a “tough” start to BMW’s first top-level sports car racing campaign since 1999.

“On the other hand, in a championship like this which is so competitive you can’t expect that you come here and directly win races from the get-go,” Roos told Sportscar365.

“It was clear for us that we have to work hard to close up and and catch up to the competition.

“The level of competition here is super high with the best manufacturers and the best teams and drivers competing in endurance racing but seeing our progression over the season, I think we can be super happy.

“Also, when you come into a championship where others maybe raced already one or two years, or in this case one year, and you have to catch up, your step has to be bigger than the other ones and I think we managed quite well.

“I think we still have a way to go, and still there is always room for improvement.

“But we managed to be on the podium from Le Mans we had already some glimpses where we showed the potential of the car and this is where we have to build up and continue working hard.”

Roos hailed the Fuji podium as “a big step” for the program, noting its significance in WEC’s burgeoning Hypercar class, but noted that the Munich brand now needs to target regular podium finishes in future races.

“For sure, having a podium like in Fuji with P2 in a competition like this, it’s always nice,” he said.

“I said it already before several times in the past, during LMP1 times you had maybe five, six or seven competitive cars; now you have nearly 20 competitive cars.

“So to be on the podium in the competition like this, I think it’s already a good result and a big step and but we want to be there regularly and it is where we have to fight hard.”

Roos also indicated that developing the partnership between WRT and BMW, which had previously only existed in GT3 racing, was a key factor throughout the season where everyone involved needed to ‘find their way.’

“For sure we entered new with WRT, with the drivers with BMW, and then everything has to get together,” he said.

“This is for sure one big part where you just find your way. But  it’s also not one single area,we improved everywhere and try to optimize the package we have.

“I always said from the beginning, there is still potential in the car, but we have to get the potential and find it. I think we are on the way and hopefully some good results will come.”