Magnussen to Combine WEC with Endurance Cup Drive

BMW has confirmed that Kevin Magnussen will form part of its FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar lineup next year, with the Dane also joining BMW M Team RLL for the Michelin Endurance Cup as the German brand shuffles its LMDh driver squad for 2025.

The 32-year-old Dane was confirmed last week to be joining BMW after leaving Formula 1 and already indicated he was due to make his debut in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

On Thursday, BMW outlined the extent of Magnussen’s program as it revealed its full driver lineup across both WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, confirming that Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor are set to pull double duty across both series.

Magnussen will share the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 with Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello, while Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde continue aboard the No. 20 car.

BMW’s WeatherTech Championship GTP effort, meanwhile, will feature an almost entirely revised driver lineup next year.

Jesse Krohn and Connor De Phillippi have both been dropped from the program, meaning Philipp Eng is the only driver to be retained after Nick Yelloly moved to Acura Meyer Shank Racing.

Eng will share the No. 24 BMW with Vanthoor, while Marco Wittmann moves across from the WEC effort to pilot the No. 25 car alongside Van der Linde.

As a result of the clash between WEC’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the WeatherTech Championship round at Laguna Seca, WRT will slim down to a two-driver effort in Belgium consisting of Marciello and Magnussen and Frijns and Rast.

Meanwhile, Magnussen and Frijns will join the No. 24 and No. 25 cars, respectively, for the Endurance Cup rounds in the U.S. while Marciello and Rast complete RLL’s lineup at Daytona.

“We have high goals for the upcoming season with our BMW M Hybrid V8 prototypes,” said Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport.

” To achieve these, we are striving for optimisations in all areas. For our driver line-up, this means focusing and specialising.

“The more time our drivers spend behind the wheel of the BMW M Hybrid V8, the better they will get to know its handling and the more feedback they can provide to our engineers.

“The goal is to intensify the development of the BMW M Hybrid V8 in collaboration with the specialists at the teams and at BMW M Motorsport.

“It also helps us in this regard, that some drivers compete in both championships, thereby further improving the exchange of information. “We are convinced that this way joining our forces will bring us advantages.

“Of course, the schedule overlap in May is not ideal, but we have the regulatory option to compete in a 6-hour FIA WEC race with two drivers per car, which we will utilise.

“The fact that the season starts in January with the 24-hour race at Daytona is very beneficial for us.

“This allows us to have all eight drivers together for an extended period early in the season, helping us to optimally synchronise with each other.”