BMW Rules Out Third Hypercar Entry for Le Mans

BMW will not field a third Hypercar entry in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, with motorsport boss Andreas Roos stating the brand will ‘focus on two cars’ as it navigates a packed month of June with three consecutive 24-hour races.

The Munich manufacturer will kick off its second season in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category this weekend, fielding a pair of Team WRT-operated BMW M Hybrid V8s in the Qatar 1812km.

Roos indicated as recently as last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona that BMW was considering the possibility of a third, Team RLL-entered car for Le Mans.

However, speaking with Sportscar365 in Qatar, Roos explained that the decision had been made against a third car, opting instead to stick with its existing Hypercar effort for the French endurance classic.

“We have to be honest,” Roos said. “With the time running, we will not have a third car in Le Mans.”

Roos went on to explain that the decision was made against the backdrop of an unusually busy June period for endurance racing, which will see the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nürburgring 24 and CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa all be held on consecutive weekends.

A further complication is brought by the fact that the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen is scheduled for June 22, taking place the weekend after Le Mans and clashing with the blue riband event at the Nürburgring.

“This is why at the moment we focus on our two cars,” said Roos.

“Clearly, having additional cars always helps and it’s nothing I want to rule out for the future.

“We are also in discussion, more on the IMSA side, also with possible customer teams where customers are asking but there’s nothing at the moment.

“There’s nothing fixed or something but this is the normal discussions you anyway have. We also had this already last year.”

Roos previously indicated that BMW remained open to the notion of selling its Dallara-chassised LMDh car to customers, although that has not yet materialized.

He went on to say that BMW needs to be careful not to “overstress” itself in June, having previously warned against the current schedule when it was first confirmed last summer.

“As we compete in June in all these three main endurance races, two in GT and one on the Hypercar side with Le Mans, one of the biggest races in the world, we clearly said we have to focus on what we have and what we can do and not to overstress the anyway already very packed weeks,” Roos said.

“This is why we said we focus on the two cars in Le Mans and then also see what we can do for Nürburgring and Spa where we feel comfortable.”

Roos hinted that BMW “already took a decision” on how it will allocate its drivers across the Watkins Glen-N24 weekend, with factory drivers Philipp Eng, Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann likely to be unavailable for the latter event due to their full season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments.

“For sure, it has an impact,” Roos said.

“At the end we have only a certain amount of drivers and then this already restricts you in the amount of cars you can do.

“This is what I said from the beginning: it’s not ideal to have these important races all packed together and even clashing with other important races.

“At the end we also can’t take just drivers on board for single events. This is not our philosophy and it’s not how we want to do it.

“This is why at the end we have to find the best compromise between all of these important races.”