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Imola. What a spectacular finale at the “6 Hours of Imola”,
the second race of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC)
season! Thanks to a tactical masterclass by BMW M Team WRT, the #20
BMW M Hybrid V8, driven by Robin Frijns (NED), René Rast (GER), and
Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), finished in second place. The crew of
car #20 celebrated their first-ever podium in the FIA WEC – despite
an early collision with another car and a repair in the pits. In the
LMGT3 class, the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, starting from pole position,
battled for the win. After a penalty and a fantastic comeback at the
end, drivers Ahmad Al Harthy (OMA), Valentino Rossi (ITA), and
Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) celebrated a second-place finish on the podium
.

 

The 6-hour Imola race was turbulent for all BMW M Motorsport crews.
The #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 started from 13th place but steadily moved up
the order on the tight course. However, Rast collided with another car
during an overtaking attempt, which was not his fault, severely
damaging the rear wing. This required a complete rear section change
during the subsequent pit stop, which the BMW M Team WRT crew
accomplished in an extremely short time, thus limiting the time lost.
Nevertheless, the journey from ninth place to the podium was long. To
gain positions on the track, the team decided to shorten the
penultimate refuelling stop, allowing them to take the lead. Van der
Linde drove laps at qualifying pace to build enough time to overtake
most competitors during their later final stops and cross the finish
line in second place. The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Kevin Magnussen
(DEN), Raffaele Marciello (SUI), and Dries Vanthoor (BEL), started
from third place and maintained that until the final hour of the race.
However, the crew fell back due to performance issues and finished in
sixth place.

 

In the LMGT3 class, the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO fought for the win right
up to the finish line after an emotional rollercoaster. Al Harthy
started from pole position and defended the lead during his double
stint. Subsequent shifts in positions due to different strategies saw
Rossi battling for first place with a Ferrari. During an overtaking
attempt, he hit his opponent at the rear, for which the team received
a stop-and-go penalty. That was followed by an impressive comeback by
final driver van der Linde, who made up place after place and even
closed the gap to the leading Porsche in the final laps. In a
spectacular duel, he tried everything to snatch the victory but
ultimately had to settle for second place. It was the second podium
for the BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the second race of the season. The #31 crew
with Augusto Farfus (BRA), Timur Boguslavskiy, and Yasser Shahin
(AUS), who had finished third in Qatar, experienced a troubled race
this time and finished twelfth after several incidents and penalties.

 

Comments after the race:

 

Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport):
“Congratulations to Team WRT, the drivers, and everyone involved at
BMW M Motorsport on the double podium at Imola! The #20 crew did a
fantastic job and, thanks to flawless performances by the drivers and
perfect strategy, earned their deserved first podium in the FIA WEC.
Car number 15 was performing very well for a long time after a strong
qualifying, but unfortunately, it then lost performance. We need to
investigate this. The podium for the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the LMGT3
class is also impressive. A podium finish in both classes and a
generally strong performance of our cars – this gives us confidence
for the upcoming races, where we will try to secure the first win of
the year.”

 

Vincent Vosse (Team Principal, BMW M Team WRT): “A
great race weekend with a second place in both the Hypercar and LMGT3
classes! Additionally, the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 finished sixth after
encountering some issues towards the end of the race. We will
investigate and find out exactly what happened. We also had various
problems with car #31. It’s unfortunate that it fell so far back
because, by mid-race, the crew had moved up from twelfth at the start
to second place. It’s also frustrating for car #46, which led a large
part of the race and had the speed to win – if it hadn’t been for the
penalty. Anyway, a double podium in the FIA WEC is always very
satisfying. Next up is our home race at Spa-Francorchamps. Let’s see
what we can achieve there.”

 

René Rast (BMW M Team WRT, #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, 2nd place):
“A fantastic result – finally a podium! We didn’t expect this
after finishing 13th in qualifying, which didn’t go as planned. But in
the race, we showed how good our car and our team are. We made almost
no mistakes, stayed calm, and executed well. In the end, a bit of luck
was also involved, but we had so much bad luck in the last races that
we now deserve to celebrate.”

 

Raffaele Marciello (BMW M Team WRT, #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, 6th
place): “I’m happy for the #20 crew that they made it to
the podium. They had a lot of bad luck last season. On our side of the
garage, we can’t be satisfied. Things were going well for a long time,
but as the race progressed, we lost performance. Now we need to look
at and understand how this happened. We all know how fast Dries is in
the car. When I handed over to him, I thought it could be our day but
then the problem occurred.”

 

Valentino Rossi (Team WRT, #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 2nd place LMGT3
class): “I have mixed feelings because a podium is a good
result, but we could have won. It’s very unfortunate because the team
did a fantastic job, the car was very fast, and we managed the tyres
well. Ahmad and especially Kelvin at the end drove brilliantly. Kelvin
fought until the end and brought the podium home. Unfortunately, I
made a mistake and hit the Ferrari in front of me during an overtaking
attempt. The subsequent penalty cost us the win. I am sorry for that.”

 

Augusto Farfus (The Bend Team WRT, #31 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 12th
place LMGT3 class): “There are races where everything just
goes wrong. This was one of those races. We had a great car with great
speed, but we just couldn’t capitalise on it. That’s hard to accept
because it doesn’t happen every time that you have such a strong
package available. We made too many mistakes – and luck was also not
on our side but the championship is still open. We now need to focus
on the next race.”

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