Magnussen to Make BMW LMDh Debut at Daytona

Kevin Magnussen has confirmed that his first race in a BMW LMDh car will be January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona after signing up to join the German manufacturer’s top-flight sports car racing program for next year.

The Danish driver, who made his final Formula 1 appearance for the Haas team in last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, was revealed last Thursday to be joining BMW as he returns to endurance racing for the first time since 2021.

While BMW did not specify whether its new star signing will be racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship or the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Magnussen has clarified that his season will begin with the WeatherTech Championship season opener at Daytona.

“I’m happy to be going back to sports car racing,” Magnussen told reporters ahead of his F1 swan song in Abu Dhabi last weekend.

“It kind of feels like where I grew up, my Dad [sports car veteran Jan] having driven in sports car racing pretty much as long as I can remember, being around the track for the big races. In some ways it feels like going home.

“Daytona will be the first race, and BMW will announce the rest of the program shortly.”

Magnussen explained that his long-time relationship with Vincent Vosse, the boss of the WRT outfit that runs BMW’s factory Hypercar team in WEC, was key to his decision, in a possible sign that WEC will be the focus of his program.

“I’ve known [Vosse] since I was a little kid,” said Magnussen. “He once saved my life when I was two years old, when I fell in the swimming pool at his house at Spa!

“I jumped in the pool and I couldn’t swim; he was in a suit dressed up for some gala he was going to and he jumped in the pool, so it ruined his day, but hopefully I can make up for that now! The contact has always been there, I’ve known him always.”

Asked whether he would want to participate in both WEC and the WeatherTech Championship concurrently, Magnussen replied: “I could, but that’s not preferred.”

After his F1 career came to a temporary halt when he departed Haas the first time after 2020, Magnussen embarked on a full season of IMSA driving for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing, and made a second appearance in the Rolex 24 in 2022.

He was due to become a Peugeot WEC driver in 2022 but backed out of the deal to accept an offer to return to Haas as a last-minute replacement for Nikita Mazepin.

Having lost out in his bid to remain on the F1 grid for 2025, Magnussen admitted that he had contemplated a move to the NTT IndyCar Series to further his career, but said that “moving to the U.S. with my family just wasn’t practical”.

He also ruled out pursuing a reserve driver role in F1, although he didn’t dismiss taking on a wider testing role for Haas on top of his new BMW commitments.

Magnussen also noted that his new relationship with BMW “allows me to go to explore and win some of these big classic endurance races”, although he was cool on the prospect of adding selected GT3 outings to his LMDh program next year.

“There are some cool GT races like Bathurst and the Nordschleife [Nürburgring 24] which could be fun to do in the future,” he said. “But it’s not my plan in the near-term.”