When a car manufacturer involved in the Hypercar class opens its press release for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a podium finish in the LMGT3 category, you can imagine that things didn’t go as hoped. This is what happened in the case of BMW – and also Porsche (“Porsche 911 GT3 R wins at LMGT3 premiere in Le Mans”) – which had to cope with a bitter race result in Le Mans.
After just over 2 of the 24 hours of racing, both the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 (Dries Vanthoor, Marciello, Wittmann) and the strikingly painted Art Car with starting number #20 (Sheldon van der Linde, Rast, Frijns) had already experienced major difficulties.
Robert Kubica shoots down BMW: “Car is a total write-off”
Two-time DTM champion Marco Wittmann lost control of his #15 BMW 20 minutes after the start of the race and hit the barriers. After an unplanned repair stop, they had to catch up to avoid falling off the lead lap. The #15 crew managed to do just that until Dries Vanthoor was sent into the barriers at high speed by Robert Kubica’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari at 11:10 p.m.
That meant an early end to the day for Wittmann, the younger of the Vanthoor brothers and BMW newcomer Raffaele Marciello. “After my mistake in the starting phase, we had already fought our way back into the top 10 and were doing well,” said Le Mans debutant Wittmann. “Then, after many weeks of intensive preparation, to be basically out with both hypercars before midnight is of course extremely frustrating for the whole team.”
The fact that ex-BMW driver Kubica (Formula 1 and DTM) was ‘only’ given a 30-second time penalty for the collision caused some discussion. Vanthoor was examined in the medical center and escaped with a headache. “Having a collision at that point is very dangerous,” said BMW Motorsport Director Andreas Roos to Motorsport-Magazin.comwithout wanting to publicly assess the punishment. “It was an accident at 280 to 300 km/h, the car is a total write-off.”
Unusual: Wittmann and Frijns crash
The #15 BMW only managed 103 of the 311 laps of the race – curiously, more than its sister car, which did make it to the finish line but did not qualify with only 97 laps. Almost exactly two hours after Wittmann’s impact, the #20 BMW with factory driver Robin Frijns at the wheel. The Dutchman flew off a kerb in the Ford chicane and had a serious accident.
“We simply didn’t implement it well and made too many mistakes,” said teammate Rene Rast, who took over the start and proceeded with great caution to avoid collisions. “We still have to get better at that.” The fact that Wittmann and Frijns, two drivers who are considered to be absolutely reliable drivers with very little potential for damage, crashed is a cause for alarm.
“Two days ago, everyone was saying that BMW’s driver line-up is one of the best you can have,” said racing director Roos to the team. “Mistakes like that shouldn’t happen, but they did happen. Overall, there were a lot of mistakes across the entire field. But a few made it, and we didn’t.” We hear from BMW circles that the setup and drivability of the Munich LMDh car in general is said to be a big challenge.
BMW drives out again after accident just for the finish photo
“The #20 had to be repaired afterwards and had some consequential damage,” explained Roos after Frijns’s crash. “We carefully repaired the car again. But given the difficult weather conditions, we decided that it didn’t make much sense to continue driving. There were already enough broken parts and the next race was just around the corner. So it was enough for the car to just cross the finish line.” The fifth WEC race of the season will take place on July 14 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
With two Hypercars eliminated and the #46 BMW M4 GT3 driven by superstar Valentino Rossi having crashed on Sunday night, BMW is considered the loser of the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Alpine (two engine failures). Only the second place of the #31 BMW M4 GT3 (Leung, Gelael, Farfus) behind the Manthey Porsche could be considered a success. The Bavarians only made their comeback in the WEC this year, but with a full season of experience in the US IMSA series. BMW has not yet been able to win a race on its own with its LMDh car.
BMW conclusion: “Performance there, result disappointing”
This was all the more annoying because the BMWs were not inferior in terms of performance and were able to keep up, especially in the early stages of the race and into the night. At one point, the second fastest lap was recorded by the BMW M Hybrid V8. Vanthoor had also made a statement with the fastest lap time in qualifying before the Hyperpole.
“The performance is there, but the result is disappointing,” summed up Roos. “If the car has the pace in practice and qualifying, you naturally expect to achieve a corresponding result. Losing the cars so early in the race is a disappointment, that has to be said quite clearly. We are here to win races, not to drop out.” So the comeback after 25 years remains with the only Le Mans victory from 1999 with the BMW V12 LMR.