BMW M Motorsport confirmed Wednesday that Raffaele Marcielo, Marco Wittmann, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast will complete the driver lineup in the German marque’s two-car Hypercar entry in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.
The four new additions join the already confirmed Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde in the two BMW M Hybrid V8s run by Team WRT.
In the #15 entry, Vanthoor will be joined by Marciello and Wittmann, with Van der Linde, Frijns and Rast competing in the #20 car.
2024 marks BMW’s first FIA WEC campaign with the M Hybrid V8, after the car made its competitive debut campaigning in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2023, with two cars run by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, had this to say on the completion of the driving roster: “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 LMDh car, 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.”
“With our driver line-up in the Hypercar class, we have something of a dream team,” added Vincent Vosse, Team Principal of BMW M Team WRT.
“We have worked with Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Robin Frijns, and also René Rast for many years and know them very well.
“Marco Wittmann and Raffaele Marciello are new to us, but the first joint tests have gone very well.
“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.”
Marciello, who makes the jump to BMW from Mercedes, calls his new WEC journey a “major challenge.”
He added, “Challenging for race wins and titles in the FIA WEC, with so many big manufacturers, is exactly the challenge I was hoping for.
“Having been opponents on the racetrack for years, it is fantastic to now drive alongside Dries Vanthoor.
“And to have a BMW M Motorsport legend like Marco Wittmann on your side is fantastic.
“I hope to learn from the two of them.”
Wittmann’s an all-too-familiar face within the BMW setup and has already gotten a taste of the M Hybrid V8, courtesy of three starts in last year’s IMSA Endurance Cup rounds – alongside campaigns driving the M4 GT3 in the DTM series.
“It is both a pleasure and an honour for me to be part of the WEC squad,” the German said.
“Having already driven the BMW M Hybrid V8 in a few races in the IMSA series, I am extremely excited about the Hypercar class in the FIA WEC.
“There is a lot of genuine hype around this class in 2024, with so many manufacturers and top-class drivers. It is fantastic to be a part of it.
“The challenge is huge, but I believe we are very well positioned with the BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team WRT, the BMW M Motorsport engineers, and my extremely quick team-mates.
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans has always been on my bucket list.
“To drive in the top class in 2024, and hopefully challenge for victory, is a dream come true.”
Frijns moves up to the Hypercar class in tandem with WRT, having competed for the outfit in LMP2 last year, scoring three class podiums, saying that he has “worked very successfully with BMW M Team WRT for many years.
“I have gained experience in the LMP2 class of the FIA WEC – always with the goal of starting in the Hypercar class.
“I now have that opportunity with BMW M Motorsport, and am absolutely thrilled.
“Everyone is working very hard on the project to ensure that we have a good basis at the start of the season on which we can build and hopefully pick up a few podiums.
“I am obviously particularly looking forward to the mega event at Le Mans.
“My team-mates René and Sheldon are both super guys who I know well from the DTM. I am driving alongside two champions – what could possibly go wrong?”
“Driving for BMW M Motorsport in the Hypercar class is the start of a new chapter for me,” said multiple DTM champion Rast.
“I have driven for Audi in a few individual races in the top FIA WEC class in the past, but never a full season.
“After that, I raced in the LMP2 class. It is awesome to now be part of a new golden era of endurance racing.
“I am very much looking forward to the challenge and believe we will be competitive with BMW M Team WRT, the team of engineers at BMW M Motorsport, and the squad of drivers we have.”
The 2024 FIA WEC series commences with the Qatar Prologue on February 24-25.
BMW will compete in the Hypercar class alongside Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Peugeot, Lamborghini, Alpine and Isotta Fraschini.
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