BMW M Team WRT driver Sheldon van der Linde has outlined realistic goals for the Bavarian manufacturer’s maiden Hypercar campaign, suggesting the immediate expectation to fight the top teams as far-fetched.
“We started in IMSA last year with a plan of developing the car in America and hopefully making some good steps in America, but we need to be realistic with our goals,” he said in a pre-season media call.
“… we can’t expect to go there and start beating Ferrari or Toyota or whatever.
“We need to really build the car step by step, make sure that it’s got a good platform to begin with.
“And we have a very good driver line-up this year, so I think we have some really good experienced guys with myself, Robin [Frijns] and Rene [Rast], to really push that programme forward and make sure that the car is not only fast but reliable.
“I think that it’s one thing to work on the car’s speed, but you need to make sure the car gets to the end as well, especially in the beginning phases of the car [lifecycle].
“So I think for us the most important thing is to get to the flag in the beginning, make sure that we have a reliable car and then we start working on the speed, event-by-event.”
Van der Linde will share the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 with Robin Frijns and Rene Rast, who both have experience in prototype sportscar racing and have long term experience competing for WRT in former GT racing programmes.
Despite a tricky start to their IMSA season last year, BMW managed to field their #25 Team RLL entrant to its first win which was inherited at Watkins Glen after Porsche Penske failed post-race checks, and further onto contending for the 2023 championship title.
With the BoP set ahead of the grueling 1812 km Qatar season-opener – or 10-hour race depending on which is reached first – BMW will need to perform strongly in terms of reliability, as they will compete with their #20 and #25 Hypercars against 16 other rivals.
The 24-year-old South African concluded: “And I’m really, really pleased with the progress so far. We obviously started on the back-foot [at the] beginning of last year.
“The car had a long way to improve, but we’ve made some really good steps [with] WRT.
“They’ve been doing a really good job.
“As everyone knows, it’s one of the best teams you can have in this business.
“We carry a lot of experience with that team, and I think the combination of BMW and WRT has been really successful so far.
“[We’re] relying on that to be realistic with our goals like I said, but obviously [we] want to perform.”
