Roos: “Everything is Possible” if BMWs Have Clean Race

Photo: Javier Jimenez/Drew Gibson Photography

BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos said that “everything is possible” if the pair of Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s have a clean race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, following two years of reliability and/or accident-stricken outings in the French endurance classic.

The German manufacturer enters Le Mans as the points leaders in the FIA World Endurance Championship following a breakthrough 1-2 finish in last month’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, and also with the momentum it’s come with a first Hypercar victory for the program.

A further boost came on Thursday evening when an infraction for the No. 38 Herz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken promoted Dries Vanthoor to the pole position for the race.

However, in speaking with Sportscar365, Roos stressed that Le Mans is a “very special race” that requires a number of different factors to go right over the course of the twice-around-the-clock enduro.

“It’s one of the hardest races to win and you definitely can’t force it, especially nowadays in the championship, with so many competitors and such close racing, it’s very difficult to predict anything or to know where you will end up,” he said.

“On the other hand, I think we made big steps in terms of endurance testing, reliability, but also with our Evo joker, to make the car more predictable, more drivable, over the race distance, more consistent.

“I think the first races already this year proved that we worked definitely in the right direction and did some good steps.

“Coming from Spa with the 1-2 finish, for sure gave huge momentum and was also a big relief for everybody involved in the program because everybody was working really, really hard over the last years on the team side but also BMW M Motorsport and all of our partners.

“At the end, it was important, it was super nice and it came at the right point. Because at the end, to go with this momentum into Le Mans is always helping and makes some things easier.”

Roos stressed that the Spa result doesn’t have a direct impact on their Le Mans race prospects.

“Is it changing, in the end, something on the result, on what we see on Sunday? No, it’s not,” he said.

“It’s because the Le Mans race is the Le Mans race. Whatever happened in Spa can be different here.”

BMW Team WRT’s previous two, and only, Hypercar outings at Le Mans have been met with issues for both Hypercar class entries.

While an accident and mechanical issues dashed hopes of a result in 2024, the No. 20 car lost significant time last year to resolve an engine issue and the No. 15 BMW encountered a hybrid system cooling issue.

Roos said the reliability concerns have been addressed during the off season, particularly on how to get its LMDh cars to the finish.

“When we take both cars, for the [last] two years, so we had four starts with cars and we didn’t finish one without a problem until now,” he said.

“Clearly our biggest task, especially over the winter time and in preparation for Le Mans, was a topic of reliability.

“When we look already at this year, we had a 24-hour race, a 12-hour race, we had some other WEC and IMSA races, and all ran without any reliability issues.

“This was clearly a goal and where we worked hard on, to improve the situation.

“For sure you can never be 100 percent sure but I think we made good steps there to be much more confident going into the race.”

Expectations Not Changed Since HistoricPole

Despite the historic pole run, BMW’s first-ever in the French endurance classic, Roos said it hasn’t changed his or the the Vincent Vosse-led team’s expectations for the race.

“We want to win every single race; we also want to win Le Mans,” he said. “But as I’ve always said, we are not just here to fill up the grid. We’re here to win races and for sure our biggest goal is to win the Le Mans race.

“We are here to fight for a good result and for a podium.

“There are definitely some races where it’s a bit prestigious to be on pole. I think Le Mans is one of these.

“It’s super nice and it’s the first time ever for BMW here in Le Mans to be on the pole position. It’s nice to tick this box but we are humble enough to know that the pole position is not directly the ticket for victory.

“Seeing all of the testing, the pre-test and all the practice sessions here, we saw how tight and close the field is, and there are a lot of cars that maybe didn’t shine that much in qualifying, but definitely in the long run pace they were strong.

“I expect a very tight and hard race for a good result. I still hope that we have the chance to be with the front runners and have a clean race.

“In the end, this is the most important thing, no mistakes, no penalties, the right strategy calls, to be there, still in the right spot, on Sunday when the last hours come.”

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