Marciello Aiming to Carry BMW Hypercar Gains Into Second Year

Raffaele Marciello said he’s hopeful to carry over his progress and learnings from his first season racing BMW Hypercar machinery in the FIA World Endurance Championship into a second year with the German brand.

The 29-year-old Swiss racer was BMW’s marquee signing when it brought him in to be part of its Team WRT-operated effort in the globe-trotting championship.

He was paired up with Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann, with the trio having a challenging start to the season before finding momentum in the second half of the campaign.

They notably scored BMW’s first podium in the Hypercar category when the No. 15 car finished second during September’s 6 Hours of Fuji.

Speaking with Sportscar365, Marciello described his improvement of getting to grips with the Dallara-chassised LMDh car after previously naming braking as a particular area where he struggled earlier in the season.

“We improved this area in the car quite a lot,” Marciello said.

“So for sure this was also a big, big help from the car towards me, let’s say. So now it’s getting better [and] I think it’s fine.

“We still need to fine tune the car at the end because it’s our first season in WEC. So it’s always a discovery, but it’s getting better every time.

“We showed a great pace in Austin, in Fuji, so it’s getting better and better.

“It’s not easy to fully adapt and change your driving style, so let’s say it was 50-50 of the car improving, me adapting a bit, so it’s getting better now.”

Marciello expressed the desire to remain part of BMW’s WEC lineup for its second season in the Hypercar category next year, although the Munich brand has yet to confirm the composition of its driver crews for next year.

Sportscar365 understands that the lineups will be finalized after this weekend’s WEC finale in Bahrain, with Marciello indicating he has not yet been informed of his program for next season.

“I hope I will be there [in WEC] next year,” said Marciello. “I’m sure in the second year maybe you have a bit more pressure, but at the end you’re more prepared, more ready. So let’s see. 

“I think the first year you try to figure out everything and then the second year is the one that we have to show what you can do. I would like to do that.”

BMW’s Fuji podium came in a month in which its top-class prototype program enjoyed back-to-back breakthrough results, as it came a week before Team RLL scored a 1-2 result in the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

While Marciello hailed the result in Japan as a “nice bonus” he noted that he personally felt it was a stepping stone in BMW’s journey towards becoming a consistent presence amongst WEC’s frontrunners.

“It’s more like that you’re able to fight at the front and to fight with the big names, big teams,” he said.

“Already in Austin we were quite satisfied with our pace and everything. And for sure, as I said, the podium is nice bonus but it’s more important for me to be able to fight at the front.

“Because then to be on the podium, there are many reasons to go on the podium but already to fight in front [and] to be quick, this for me was the goal.

“So now it’s nice and I think the next step is try to stay there. Because if you do well two or three races, whatever, but you have to be always there. So now we try to be like Fuji and Austin again.”