Roos: BMW Taking “360-Degree Approach” to 2025 Lineup

BMW is evaluating deploying drivers across both its FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype efforts simultaneously in a manner similar to Porsche and Cadillac according to its motorsport boss Andreas Roos.

The Munich brand has nearly completed its first dual campaign after its WEC effort, spearheaded by Team WRT, came online earlier this year.

With the exception of January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, where WEC drivers Dries Vanthoor and Rene Rast completed the lineup, BMW has largely opted to utilize two distinctly separate sets of drivers.

This meant that Rast and Vanthoor raced with Marco Wittmann, Raffaele Marciello, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns in WEC.

Meanwhile, Philipp Eng, Jesse Krohn, Nick Yelloly and Connor De Phillippi formed the core of the WeatherTech Championship effort, with WEC LMGT3 aces Augusto Farfus and Maxime Martin joining for the endurance races.

However, with Yelloly’s recently confirmed departure to join the Acura Meyer Shank Racing GTP effort, BMW will have at least one seat vacancy to fill on the WeatherTech Championship side.

“The silly season I would say already started in terms of drivers and who is going where and then who is doing what,” BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos told Sportscar365.

“We are definitely in talks with all our drivers and also looking what is possible on the market.

“This is something we work on already since some weeks, but we also still need some weeks to define it and then try the right combination but I think we are on a good way.”

As reported by Sportscar365, former Nissan Formula E driver Sasha Fenestraz recently emerged as a candidate to join BMW, while it is understood that Pipo Derani has also held unsuccessful talks with the German brand.

Roos, meanwhile, indicated that BMW is also evaluating a shift in driver deployment that would see its drivers more frequently cross over between WEC and the WeatherTech Championship in a manner similar to the one used by Porsche Penske Motorsport.

Porsche WEC drivers Matt Campbell, Fred Makowiecki, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor all made at least one appearance in the WeatherTech Championship this year, while WeatherTech Championship stars Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy have raced a third, U.S.-operated 963 at two consecutive editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It was confirmed on Tuesday that Porsche will again adopt the same approach next year, with Estre and Vanthoor set to contest Michelin Endurance Cup rounds while full-season WeatherTech Championship drivers Campbell and Jaminet will join the WEC squad for selected rounds including Le Mans.

Cadillac Racing is expected to utilize a similar approach with Earl Bamber, who will drive for Action Express Racing in the WeatherTech Championship and Hertz Team JOTA in WEC.

“It’s definitely a topic we are talking about and we take into consideration, because at the end the cars are equal in both championships,” said Roos.

“So it also helps the drivers, because they don’t have to jump from one car to the other.  It’s the same car at the end, just different championships and it also helps you to transfer information.

“It’s completely open between RLL, WRT and BMW. We have a constant exchange and there are no secrets. It’s a complete open book philosophy, but still having drivers maybe in both championships can help you also to push the whole program even further.

“Clearly, we are thinking about this and seeing if this is possible with all other commitments we have.

“I think we as BMW are in a very lucky situation that we are all over the world in several championships, so we have a lot of racing series where we take part.

“This as said is a lucky situation, but on the other hand it makes it sometimes quite difficult to align all these calendars with a lot of clashes we even have between the calendars.

“But clearly this is something we look at, but we look at that 360 degrees for all our championships.”

Additionally, BMW’s 23-driver factory roster features multiple drivers that are known to have had test outings aboard the M Hybrid V8, but have to date not been selected for a race seat.

They include Jake Dennis, who rejoined the roster earlier this year, as well as former Junior Team members turned factory drivers Dan Harper, Neil Verhagen and Max Hesse.

When asked if they could be under consideration for a race role in 2025, Roos replied: “Also there, I’m as BMW Motorsport not worried because we have a huge driver lineup of more than 20 drivers and at the end we are also there in a comfortable situation that we have a very strong driver lineup.

“Nearly every of our driver could jump also into the Hypercar but also in the GT car, so at the end this is why I’m also not nervous at a time like this.

“We have enough drivers and we are in a good situation. Also that our product is quite attractive also, especially after the last weeks where we showed that we are getting there where we want to be.

“So I think we will find some good driver lineups.”