Sakhir. The hopes for a strong conclusion to the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) did not fully materialise for BMW M Motorsport. The season finale, the ‘8 Hours of Bahrain’ (BRN), proved challenging in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories. Over the course of eight hours, it was difficult to fight for the top positions. However, Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), René Rast (GER) and Robin Frijns (NED) managed an impressive recovery drive in the #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8 of BMW M Team WRT, moving up from 15th on the grid to finish eighth. The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, driven by Kevin Magnussen (DEN), Raffaele Marciello (SUI) and Dries Vanthoor (BEL), retired in the final hour due to a defect.
In the LMGT3 class, which had recently seen two consecutive podium finishes for the BMW M4 GT3 EVO cars, the #31 car from The Bend Team WRT finished seventh in Bahrain. Behind the wheel were Augusto Farfus (BRA), Timur Boguslavskiy and Yasser Shahin (AUS). Valentino Rossi (ITA), Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) and Ahmad Al Harthy (OMA) concluded their final FIA WEC race of the season in 15th position in the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO entered by Team WRT.
Among the highlights of the 2025 FIA WEC season for BMW M Motorsport was a podium finish in the Hypercar class for the #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8 at Imola (ITA). In the LMGT3 category, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO achieved a total of four podium finishes: the #46 took second place at both Imola and Austin (USA), while the #31 finished third in Doha (QAT) and Fuji (JPN).
The day after the season finale traditionally features the FIA WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain. For BMW M Team WRT, BMW M works drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts (BEL) – who this season have won titles in the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) and GT World Challenge Europe, among other successes – will complete their first laps in the BMW M Hybrid V8. Sheldon van der Linde will set the reference laps. For him and Raffaele Marciello, however, the focus quickly shifts to their next challenge: both are travelling directly from Bahrain to Macau (CHN), where they will compete next weekend in the FIA GT World Cup with two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs. Van der Linde will drive for Team WRT on the famous Guia street circuit, while Marciello will race with ROWE Racing.
Comments after the race:
Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport): “The FIA WEC season finale with the eight-hour race in Bahrain turned out to be quite a turbulent weekend overall, both in the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes. In the end, the results were not what we had hoped for, as our clear goal was to fight for podium positions in both categories. Unfortunately, we simply lacked the pace in the race to do so. Nevertheless, we showed a strong performance towards the end, and the great battle of the #20 car for eighth place was a satisfying way to finish. Sadly, the #15 had to retire due to a loose right-rear wheel. In LMGT3, the #31 also achieved a top ten result with seventh place. Of course, our goal is to stand on the podium, but finishing in the top ten in both categories is still a solid achievement in such a fiercely competitive championship. Many thanks to Team WRT, who did an excellent job throughout the year in both classes. A big thank you as well to everyone at BMW M Motorsport for their hard work, and to all our partners for a great FIA WEC season. We will now carefully analyse everything and come back stronger next year. Congratulations to Ferrari for an incredible season – with their victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the manufacturers’ title in the FIA WEC, and the top three positions in the drivers’ championship. I think it’s fair to say it doesn’t get much better than that. At the same time, I would also like to thank Porsche, who are unfortunately leaving the FIA WEC at the end of this season. Thank you for the fantastic competition we shared – and all the best for the future!”
Vincent Vosse (Team Principal, BMW M Team WRT): “Overall, it has been a disappointing weekend. We were hoping for a better result here. When you are starting the season the way we did, you expect something different, but unfortunately, it did not go that way. We have a lot of work ahead of us in the Hypercar class to improve for next year. In LMGT3, we just did what we could. We were unlucky with the last safety car, otherwise we would have fought for P5. But yes, we are not racing to fight for P5. I hope that next year we can fight at the very front.”
Sheldon van der Linde (BMW M Team WRT, #20 Shell BMW M Hybrid V8, 8th place): “Unfortunately, it was not the ending we hoped for this year. We would have liked to end the year on a high. There was so much potential at points in the season but we just didn‘t put it together as we had hoped. But at the same time we’ve learned a lot about the team and the car. I feel like we’re stronger than ever going into 2026. So the goal remains the same to try and be world champions next year, but we have a lot of work to do in the off-season. Now I am going to the FIA GT World Cup at Macau, where I want to end the year with a success – and it’s a great opportunity to achieve my goal to win a world title. But I’ve got some very tough competition, firstly with Lello as my fellow BMW driver in the ROWE car and then secondly all the other very competitive cars. So the goal is to try and win the race. I’ve been there on the podium last year so we want to go two steps better.”
Raffele Marciello (BMW M Team WRT, #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, DNF): “The season went differently to last year when we got stronger over the year. This year, we started strong but then it became difficult. After Le Mans, the season has been tough, to be honest. We will try to investigate what happened in the last races and we have some updates on the car, so hopefully this will give us a boost to be able to fight for something more. Next up is Macau, and that’s always a fantastic race. I won it twice, and last year, I nearly won it. So of course we are going there to try to win again. I’m pretty strong there, and so is Sheldon. So hopefully one of us can bring the victory home.”
Augusto Farfus (The Bend Team WRT, #31 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 7th place LMGT3 class): “It was a good race. When you see how difficult this race was for us last year and how big the step was that we made in terms of performance. I think that P5 or P6 would have been possible without the last safety car. So well done for the team, the step they did was pretty impressive.”
Kelvin van der Linde (Team WRT, #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 15th place LMGT3 class): “Unfortunately, my first WEC season with BMW was not as successful as we had hoped. There were some highlights with the podium finishes in Imola and Austin, but overall, we were always in a difficult position in terms of pace. We constantly had to fight our way from the back, and that was not ideal over the course of the season. However, even though things didn’t go perfectly in the FIA WEC, it was still a great first year with BMW overall.”