BMW has affirmed its commitment to its Hypercar future in the FIA WEC and IMSA championships, whilst confirming its imminent split with RLL.
BMW M Motorsport will continue in the premier Hypercar era and conclude a 17-year partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing at the end of the current 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season.
Whilst they work with Team WRT in the FIA World Endurance Championship, this news marks the end of a historic racing relationship, scoring 24 victories and over 100 podium finishes with RLL.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, said: “I am very pleased that we will continue our successful Hypercar programme long-term in both the FIA WEC and the IMSA series.
“As part of our future planning, we have decided to pursue our goals with a revised setup and not extend the contract with BMW M Team RLL for race operations in the IMSA series.
“I want to thank Bobby Rahal and his team for 17 fantastic years.”
BMW and RLL have partnered with one another for 14 years of GT racing and three years in the Hypercar era, when the formula replaced IMSA’s previous DPi class, succeeded by the GTP category.
This includes iconic machinery such as the BMW M3 GT, BMW Z4 GTLM, BMW M6 GTLM, BMW M8 GTE, and BMW M4 GT3.
Rahal called the rumoured speculation of a potential partnership conclusion “premature” earlier in the IMSA season, where recent wins have been difficult to come by since they stepped up to GTP with their two BMW M Hybrid V8s.
During the maiden 2023 season, they took five podium finishes, including a victory at the Six Hours of the Glen, followed up in 2024 by a highlight first 1-2 finish in Indianapolis, and four consecutive pole positions so far in 2025.
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