Vosse Confident WRT Will Be On “Another Level” in 2026

Photo: BMW

BMW M Team WRT team principal Vincent Vosse said he’s convinced the Belgian squad will be on “another level” next year after a disappointing second campaign in the FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar category.

The factory team ended the season ninth and 20th in the world drivers’ championship, with BMW a distant fifth in the Hypercar manufacturers’ standings after scoring only a single podium finish – a second place result for the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde, Rene Rast and Robin Frijns at the 6 Hours of Imola.

The sister No. 20 car of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Maricello and Kevin Magnussen, meanwhile, only made the points twice in the eight-race season, culminated with retirements in the final two rounds, with the No. 15 BMW also failing to finish at Spa-Francorchamps and Circuit of The Americas.

Speaking to reporters following last weekend’s season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain, Vosse expressed disappointment in the season but is convinced a turnaround is possible for next year, when it takes on a dual LMDh program.

“We have to analyze what went wrong after race three because the three first races we were quite OK, I would say, behind the Ferraris,” he said. “Then it went differently, I would say.

“We need to sit down and have more information about the pace, what went wrong, but of course it was not what we are expecting. It’s not what we are wishing for.”

Vosse said he couldn’t pin the challenges down to a single issue, with various elements impacting the team’s campaign.

“There were different things,” he said. “We had a technical issue in Le Mans. We had no pace at all in Brazil. We had mid-pace in Fuji and [in Bahrain] we were just part of the last pack, I’d say.

“When you look at the end [in Bahrain], the two Porsches finished behind us. I think they had better pace than us but they still finished behind us. The Alpine finished behind.

“The No. 12 Caddy did a strong race, I would say, the first LMDh car.

“At some stage you were looking at the classification and you had the top eight were LMH cars. Don’t ask me an explanation where we can see it by yourself.

“It’s disappointing. Of course we have to reset everything and everything will be reset as we’ll be starting a new season with an [updated] car.

“We have a lot of work in front of us.”

With WRT taking over BMW’s factory GTP program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, from an outpost in North Carolina, Vosse is hopeful that the expanded program will reap benefits on both sides of the pond.

He believes having a single team run both WEC and WeatherTech Championship programs, similar what Porsche Penske Motorsport did the last three years, was an instrumental key to the German squad’s success.

“The best team, or benchmark team the last two years, [was] Penske,” said Vosse. “They have been the benchmark the last two years. It was the only team that has all those kind of information from the two championships, which seems to help.

“I am sure it will help [next year].”

When asked if they could be at a disadvantage in not knowing the U.S. tracks, Vosse stressed that the data from previous operator Team RLL, as well as BMW, will help them get a jump start on its new American venture.

“It will be new for us but not for BMW and not for the drivers,” he said. “The information doesn’t stay within the RLL team. It’s BMW information and I am sure we will be supported by BMW to have all needed information.

“But of course we are also starting with a different car.”

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