BMW Locks in Lineup for Debut Hypercar Season

Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann will make their FIA World Endurance Championship debuts as part of BMW M Team WRT’s Hypercar lineup, having been confirmed as part of the six-man driver crew alongside Robin Frijns and Rene Rast.

The Munich marque revealed the full roster of drivers set to pilot the Dallara-chassised LMDh prototype in the eight-round series after Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde were already confirmed earlier.

Marciello, the newest addition to the BMW factory driver roster, will share the No. 15 car with Wittmann and Vanthoor while Frijns and Rast join Van der Linde aboard the No. 20 machine.

“We compete in the 2024 WEC season with a very strong selection from our high-class works driver squad,” said Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos.

“We have combined driving excellence with experience in the two BMW M Hybrid V8s – on the one hand experience with our LMDh car, on the other hand experience of the race series and Le Mans in particular.

“Like Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann has already driven the BMW M Hybrid V8 in te IMSA series.

“All the other drivers – including our newcomer Raffaele Marciello – have already tested the car and will continue to do so in the coming months.”

Marciello’s inclusion into the WEC lineup puts to bed months of speculation about the Swiss driver’s potential move from GT3 competition to top class prototype racing, which only became stronger when he left Mercedes-AMG to join their German rivals over the winter.

The reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup champion, who will debut with BMW at next month’s Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, has limited previous prototype experience.

He joined High Class Racing’s LMP2 squad at the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona, but was highly successful racing high downforce junior single seaters earlier in his career.

“I am really looking forward to taking on this major challenge together with BMW M Team WRT,” Marciello said.

“Challenging for race wins and titles in the FIA WEC, with so many big manufacturers, is exactly the challenge I was hoping for.

“Having been opponents for years, it is fantastic to now drive alongside Dries Vanthoor

“And to have a BMW M Motorsport legend like Marco Wittmann on your side is fantastic. I hope to learn from the two of them.”

Co-driver Wittmann, meanwhile, will also make his WEC debut after racing BMW’s LMDh car in three IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounds last year.

Rast and Frijns join Van der Linde aboard the No. 20 machine after previously competing with Team WRT’s LMP2 program in WEC, with Frijns notably securing an LMP2 class win at the 24 Hours Le Mans and the world title in 2021.

The two drivers shared the Belgian squad’s No. 31 Oreca 07 Gibson during the 2022 campaign and secured two race wins together, with Frijns winning again in Fuji when Rast missed the event due to clashing DTM commitments.

Rast, meanwhile, will return to top class WEC racing for the first time in nine years, previously contesting two races behind the wheel of an Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro alongside Marco Bonanomi and future Acura GTP driver Filipe Albuquerque.

The trio drove a third entry in preparation for the 2015 edition of Le Mans and finished fourth at that year’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps before taking seventh place in the French endurance classic, which was won by Porsche.

Rast, along with Vanthoor, will also join BMW M Team RLL at Daytona to drive the BMW M Hybrid V8 for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opener next week.