BMW M Team WRT has confirmed its full Hypercar driver line-ups for the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (12-16 June 2024) and the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
The Belgian outfit had already signed up Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde. They will be joined by Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann, Robin Frijns and René Rast. The six-driver squad will share the wheel of the two BMW hypercars.
Vanthoor will partner Wittmann and Marcielo in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, while Van der Linde will team up with Frijns and Rast in the #20 car.
The FIA WEC 2024 season will start next month in Qatar with the Prologue on 24-25 February. The first round – the Qatar 1812 km – will follow on 2 March.
"We will be under pressure"
Vincent Vosse, Team Principal
Vincent Vosse, Team Principal, BMW M Team WRT: I would call our two Hypercar line-ups ‘a dream team’! Robin, Sheldon and René all know each other well and their combination covers youth, experience in the WEC, and knowledge of the car development. Both Marco and Raffaele are new to the WRT family, but teamed with Dries and we have another incredible trio of drivers. I’m very excited! Now we as a team will be under quite a bit of pressure because, with these drivers, we certainly do not lack speed in the cockpit.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport: We compete in the 2024 WEC season with a very strong selection from our high-class works driver squad in the Hypercar class. We have combined driving excellence with experience in the two BMW M Hybrid V8s – on the one hand, experience with our car, and on the other hand, experience of the race series and Le Mans in particular. Like Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann has already driven the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the IMSA series. All the other drivers – including our newcomer Raffaele Marciello – have already tested the car and will continue to do so intensively in the coming months.
20-time Tennis grand slam event winner, Roger Federer had the honour of waving the French tricolour at the start of the race, with 62 cars starting the 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA front row heading the field into the race.
Ahead of the start of the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans at 16:00 tomorrow, these stats illustrate the stunning performance level of the field. Of the 186 drivers competing, 19 hail from F1, From rookies to veterans, each figure is a hint of things to come this weekend.
Robert Kubica puts the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P on top spot in the final warm-up session before the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans which starts this afternoon.