BMW M Hybrid V8s finish eighth and twelfth at Lone Star Le Mans; Frijns and Rast keep WEC points lead
BMW M Team WRT endured a tough Texas heat at Lone Star Le Mans, with the #15 car eighth and #20 twelfth, yet Frijns and Rast retained the drivers' standings lead.
- 8th (#15 BMW M Hybrid V8)
- 12th (#20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8)
- 131
- 9
What Happened
BMW M Team WRT started the second half of the FIA WEC season with a challenging weekend at the Lone Star Le Mans in Austin, Texas. On the Circuit of the Americas, the two BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercars could manage only eighth and twelfth places in intense heat and humidity. Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor started eleventh in the #15 car and climbed into the top five, but fell to eighth after a late safety car phase. Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde finished twelfth in the #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8 after a pit-stop problem cost Frijns seconds.
LMGT3 #69 suffers a minor collision, causing a puncture and heavy smoke in the cockpit; Anthony McIntosh makes an emergency pit stop and later a stop-and-go penalty.
LMGT3 #32 with Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung climbs to third before a faulty sensor forces a lengthy repair stop costing ten laps, plus a two-minute track-limits penalty.
A safety car phase drops the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 out of top-five contention; it finishes eighth.
The leading #7 Toyota retires, allowing Frijns and Rast to keep their shared lead in the drivers' standings.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to build on the strong first half of the FIA WEC season on this track and in these conditions. In addition, we were unable to deliver a flawless race with either car. The result, with eighth and twelfth place, is disappointing compared to what we have achieved so far with the BMW M Hybrid V8. Especially with car number 20, whose drivers are at the top of the title fight, points would have been important. In the end, we benefited from the retirement of the #7 Toyota. I feel sorry for our competitors, who did a great job and would have deserved the win.”
“It was a tough weekend. We didn’t have the necessary pace with our Hypercars, but at least we scored some points. We’re happy that we could maintain the lead in the drivers’ standings and stay in the fight for first place in the manufacturers’ standings, but of course the retirement of the Toyota is extremely unfortunate. The crew had such a strong weekend. But that’s racing sometimes.”
In the LMGT3 class, both BMW M4 GT3 EVOs ran into trouble early. The #69 car of Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper recovered from a puncture and penalty to finish eleventh, while the #32 car of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung finished 16th after a long sensor-related repair and a penalty. Neither LMGT3 entry scored points. The next WEC round takes place in Fuji, where Dan Harper said the team must 'try to do better' after the hot Texas weekend.
Tied at the top
Robin Frijns and René Rast remain level at the top of the FIA WEC drivers' standings after the #7 Toyota retired from the lead late in the race.
131 pointspoints
BMW M Motorsport stays second, nine points behind Toyota after the Lone Star Le Mans.
Previously from BMW
BMW M Team WRT entered the second half of the season after a strong first half that included two wins and two second-place finishes, according to the race report. The team's customer motorsport operations have also seen recent success across multiple series, with wins and podiums in IMSA, SRO America and Asia. Off-track, BMW M Motorsport's broader parent group has been celebrating milestones such as two million global BEV sales.
- BMW M Motorsport celebrates wins and podiums across IMSA, SRO America, and Asia
- BMW Reaches 2 Million Global BEV Sales as Series Assembly Begins on Redesigned i3
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of BMW's official releases.
Why this matters
After a stellar first half with two wins and two second places, BMW's Hypercar program struggled in Austin's heat, scoring only eighth and twelfth. Still, the #20 crew's championship lead survived because the #7 Toyota retired from the lead late, and BMW stays second in the manufacturers' standings, nine points behind Toyota. The LMGT3 pair finished outside the points, so BMW left Texas empty-handed in that class.
Terms in This Story
- FIA WEC
- FIA World Endurance Championship, the top sports-car racing series for prototype and GT cars.
- Hypercar
- The top class of the FIA WEC featuring high-performance prototype race cars.
- LMGT3
- A WEC class for production-based grand-touring cars.
- Safety car
- A pace car deployed during a race to slow the field under caution periods.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.