Rast: BMW’s Two-Driver Spa Lineups ‘Won’t Change a Lot’

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Rene Rast expects BMW M Team WRT’s approach to the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps “will not change a lot” as the German brand deploys two-driver lineups in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class for the first time this weekend.

BMW’s driver lineup at Spa has slimmed down as a result of a clash with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde absent as they compete in California.

This means that Rast will only share the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 with Robin Frijns this weekend, while Vanthoor’s absence from the No. 15 machine means that the driving crew for that car consists of Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello.

BMW is not the only manufacturer to run two drivers per car at Spa this weekend as Aston Martin does the same, while Cadillac, Peugeot and Hertz Team JOTA also all took the same approach at certain points across the 2024 season.

Speaking with Sportscar365 ahead of the event, Rast anticipated the impact on BMW’s run plan at Spa to be fairly minor, with the increased track time for the drivers likely the most significant difference.

“For sure, the run plans are affected by it,” Rast said. “So FP1 to FP3 obviously normally we have to split by three, now you have more run time with two drivers.

“But probably Robin will do qualifying, I will do the race start and we will share whatever is in between in terms of setup work or whatever comes up in the practice sessions.

“So it will not change a lot, other than we have more work to do.

“The driver needs to be a bit more fit for the race as well because it’s more driving now, an hour more for both of us, which is okay.”

When asked how that increased driving time will be factored into the race and how that could impact driver rotation, Rast replied: “We don’t know yet. It really depends on many other things [and] how the race unfolds.

“If all of a sudden there’s a Full Course Yellow or a Virtual Safety Car, where you have to be spontaneous into the pits, then we might change the plan [and] it doesn’t work out like the way we think it might work out.

“So we have to be a bit on the go, but normally I start the race, two stints maybe three, and then we go from there.”

Vanthoor Absence Gives Marciello, Magnussen “Chance to Show Ourselves”

On the other side of the BMW garage, the No. 15 car will not feature Vanthoor for the first time as he competes at Laguna Seca.

Vanthoor has increasingly profiled himself as the standout name in BMW’s Hypercar roster, notably capturing three consecutive WeatherTech Championship pole positions.

He has also been the designated qualifying driver for every round except the M Hybrid V8’s debut at Qatar last year, where Marciello handled qualifying duties.

Marciello, who has been Vanthoor’s co-driver since the WRT-run effort debuted in WEC last year, explained that the Belgian’s absence presents both himself and Magnussen with the chance to “show ourselves” at Spa.

“I mean, if the race goes well, then we don’t want Dries back anymore,” he joked.

“No, I’m kidding. I mean, Dries has been our number one driver more or less because he pretty much always qualified the car and he did quite a few poles in IMSA.

“He showed that he’s one of the quickest if not the quickest one in the car. So for sure it will not be easy without him but at the end also me and Kevin did very well at the beginning of the year.

“So I’m sure we will be fine and it maybe also gives us the chance to do something that Dries was doing and to show ourselves that we can also do what Dries is doing for sure.

“The strategy, we drive much more so this is also nice because normally in WEC you don’t have a lot of laps in Free Practice because with the red flags, the sessions are not so long. So we can drive a lot and it’s nice.”