Paddock Talk | Sheldon van der Linde on Le Mans and Racing in WEC vs. IMSA

Sheldon van der Linde has been a BMW M Motorsport works driver since 2019. This year, he is competing in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship in the M Hybrid V8 prototype. Two weeks before we spoke with van der Linde at Watkins Glen, he and co-drivers Rene Rast and Robin Frijns finished second overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and they won the race before that at Spa in Belgium.

BimmerLife: You finished second this year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. How important is that race in terms of your career and a race you want to win?
Sheldon van der Linde: Right now, it’s at the top of the list for sure. Winning Le Mans is a priority for me to try and win, more so than the championship itself in a way. That’s even more the goal now with realizing how hard it is to win that race and coming so close this year. This year was my third Le Mans and it seems like every year we do better and we made a big step this year. We knew we had a fast car going into this year’s race, but we didn’t expect it to be as fast as it was in the end.

At Le Mans, on one of the most famous straights in racing. (Photo by Nick Dungan / Drew Gibson Photography)

BL: Did the updates made since last year to the M Hybrid V8 really help at Le Mans? Were some of those updates made with Le Mans in mind?
SVDL: A lot of the features that we added to the car, like lower drag, are obviously well suited to a track that has long straights like Le Mans, but the main reason we did that was to try and help the aero wash that we had following other cars and to try and have a better chance of overtaking. That just happens to be in line with what you need to be fast at Le Mans. I think that was really something what we underestimated – how good the package was for Le Mans. Hopefully next year we will take another step.

BL: Was the M Hybrid V8 better in some segments at Le Mans than others?
SVDL: The car was very good through the Porsche curves, and all the high-speed corners. We had a very good car in those segments compared to our competition. The lower speed corners were our weakness, like the Dunlop chicane, and generally curb riding is not our strength at the moment. That’s where we lacked a bit of time compared to Toyota specifically in the first sector, but we made up for that in the last sector. It’s a bit of give and take as it is with every car really.

Nighttime at Le Mans. (Photo by Nick Dungan / Drew Gibson Photography)

BL: You’re racing in both IMSA and FIA WEC this year. Do you find the atmosphere in one series to be a lot different than the other?
SVDL: The biggest difference for me is the laid-back atmosphere in the paddock in IMSA is a night and day difference (compared to WEC). In IMSA, you really feel like there’s a lot less pressure from the outside, which as a driver is very nice because you can just go about your business without feeling added pressure from media, from spectators, and so on. So naturally the IMSA weekends are very enjoyable. Not that they aren’t in WEC – it’s just a different kind of atmosphere. The rules in IMSA are also a lot more lenient on, for example, contact in the races, whereas WEC is very strict about that. I personally am a fan of IMSA where they are more lenient on penalties and allow more contact. It makes for better racing, in my opinion. They are two different approaches and both have good racing, but I prefer IMSA which is more old school in that sense.

Swooping through the downhill turn six at Watkins Glen. (Photo by David Haueter)

BL: How hard is it to reprogram your thinking and the way you drive when you go from the M Hybrid V8 to the M4 GT3 EVO?
SVDL: I feel more at home in the M Hybrid V8 prototype now, since I’m driving it a lot more now with the double program (IMSA and WEC). That was the intention from BMW was for me to focus on the prototype program, which is really paying off. I’m feeling like I’m nailing all the details now, whereas before I was just kind of driving around in circle and adapting myself. When I get back into an M4 GT3 EVO, I have to adapt myself more to that now. It’s easy to overdrive that car now because everything happens a lot slower. Coming from the prototype, you have to take ten steps back to be on the limit of that car. It’s easy to over-push the brakes on the ABS and to overshoot corners. With the prototype, the harder you push the faster you go, but if you carry that mindset to the M4 GT3 EVO, you end up overdriving and that makes you slower.

At the Nürburgring 24 Hour in the ROWE Racing M4 GT3 EVO. (Photo by Gruppe C Photography)

BL: If you could drive any of the BMW race cars you’ve driven at any track, what would that be?
SVDL: I would drive the Class 1 M4 DTM car from 2019 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife (Class 1 DTM cars were light, had a lot of downforce and 600hp). For me, that was the best car I’ve ever driven and that would be a dream combination, to drive it at that track, with all the high-speed corners and the downforce that car had. That car was a lot lighter than the prototype we have today, so it was a lot more agile, especially in lower speed corners. The tire degradation was high on those cars, so it was really an art to be fast over the course of a race, with the pit stops and stuff included. I really enjoyed driving alone back then, so I would definitely like to drive that car again.

van der Linde in the Class 1 DTM M4 at Brands Hatch in 2019. (Photo courtesy BMW)

BL: What’s your favorite track?
SVDL: The Nürburgring Nordschleife. Here in North America, I would say Road America. I like Watkins Glen as well, but with all the high speeds at Road America, you’re even more on the limit.

BL: What do you like most about racing?
SVDL: I think it’s the challenge of pushing yourself to new limits. In a 9-5 job, in my opinion, you never have to push yourself to the same mental extremes that you do in racing, and with the amount of pressure you have to deal with every weekend. That ‘s something that you probably wouldn’t experience if you’re not an athlete, in this sense. I think it’s something that really pushes me to be better every day. Without that motivation, I think I’d be pretty lazy and not do much.