Rast Credits ‘Miracle Strategy’ for BMW’s Breakthrough Win

Photo: BMW

Rene Rast has credited BMW M Team WRT’s “miracle” strategy call for helping pull off the German manufacturer’s first FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar victory.

Rast and co-drivers Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns took their No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 to top honors in Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, leading a 1-2 finish in the first sports car world championship victory for the German manufacturer in more than 45 years.

It came after the pair of LMDh-based prototypes started the second round of the WEC season from 10th and 11th, respectively, which prompted the WRT-run operation to go off-strategy in the first stop when the Vincent Vosse-led squad short-filled the car during its first stop and put Rast out into the lead.

“If somebody would have told me this morning that were fighting for a BMW 1-2, I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Rast.

“Yesterday in quali, we were lacking a little bit of pace. After the start, I was in P11 and was really struggling in the traffic.

“But the team pulled out a miracle in terms of strategy. They put me in front; I was leading all of a sudden and the car was just flying.

“We had great pace all race long whenever we were in clean air, the car was flying. We had great pit stops and no mistakes, no contact.”

When asked if the alternate strategy was always in the cards, Rast said it was something the team discussed pre-race but they were unsure which car it could be deployed to.

“It was on the table before the race,” he said. “We were not sure which car would take that gamble.

“In the end it was a gamble. I was the lucky one and that brought it to the win today. It’s basically down to the team.

“Before the race we knew this strategy, if everything works in our favor, can actually pay off.”

While van der Linde got the car for the middle stint, the South African admitted it could have all been thrown away if there had been an incident on-track at the time.

“We knew it was a risky strategy and if the Virtual Safety Car came out in my stint in the beginning, we knew that we would probably be at the back,” he said.

“But it was the risk we were going to take from the back of the field. I think it really paid off in the end.”

Frijns brought the car to the checkered flag, 1.969 seconds ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen, who fended off a hard-charging Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, which took four new Michelin tires on the final stop while under a VSC.

By comparison, the winning No. 20 BMW had only fresh right-side tires on that stop, while Magnussen took fuel only.

“I tried to open up a gap after the safety cars, twice, and I knew I was asking on the radio when GT traffic would come and I took it quite gentle,” said Frijns.

“Obviously the last thing you want, with three or four laps to go, is to have damage and not finish the race. That would have been quite painful.”

With the win and historic 1-2 result, Rast, van der Linde and Frijns, as well as BMW, take over the lead of their respective world championships entering next month’s double points-paying 24 Hours of Le Mans.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John