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BMW M Hybrid V8 storms into the 24 Hours of Le Mans this week, signalling BMW M Motorsport’s intent to make the world’s toughest day-long contest the centrepiece of its endurance season. Two of the spectacular prototypes will wear the colours of BMW M Team WRT, poised to battle the Hypercar field, while the freshly upgraded BMW M4 GT3 EVO joins the LMGT3 ranks in search of silverware.
The build-up began in the heart of Le Mans, where scrutineering turned city streets into an open-air pit lane and fans mingled with drivers beneath historic façades. Sunday’s solitary test session then gave engineers eight hours to refine set-ups on the 13.626-kilometre Circuit de la Sarthe. Between them, the two BMW M Hybrid V8s chalked up 130 laps, and the pair of GT3 EVOs logged 125, providing a treasure trove of data for strategists poring over tyre wear, fuel windows and aero balance.
Car #15 places Raffaele Marciello, Kevin Magnussen and Dries Vanthoor behind the wheel, while Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde share the #20 Shell-liveried machine. Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann stand ready as reserves. In LMGT3, Augusto Farfus, Timur Boguslavskiy and Yasser Shahin handle the #31 entry, with Kelvin van der Linde joining Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy in the #46 sister car. All eyes are fixed on Saturday’s 16:00 CEST rolling start, when 300,000 spectators are expected to envelop the circuit in a wall of sound.
Off-track, BMW has transformed its Le Mans base into a festival of blue-and-white roundels, complete with hospitality suites, glamping pods and a first public glimpse of the BMW XM Label collaboration with Carl Cox. Back in Munich, BMW Welt hosts a public-viewing marathon featuring race commentary from works ace Jens Klingmann and sim racer Nils Naujoks, plus virtual challenges for supporters keen to test their mettle.
For several drivers, the 24-hour marathon is merely the opening stanza of a gruelling triple header. Within days of the chequered flag, they will steer BMW machinery through two further day-night epics: the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours. Should the BMW M Hybrid V8 capture a podium under the Le Mans lights, it would ignite momentum for a June that promises to stretch man and machine to the limit—exactly the arena where BMW M Motorsport has always thrived.
