The fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) took place at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas on September 4th-6th, which was the unofficial start of the second half of the season. It was a tough weekend for BMW M Team WRT in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes, but they still left Texas with the lead in the Hypercar driver’s championship.
BMW M Team WRT had good momentum coming into COTA, which is the only round of the FIA WEC held in North America. The #15 M Hybrid V8 of René Rast, Robin Frijns, and Sheldon van der Linde had won the previous race in Brazil and the #69 M4 GT3 EVO of Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper had finished second in LMGT3. The #20 had also finished second the race before that in France, and Rast and Frijns were at the top of the driver points.
Qualifying didn’t go all that well at the hot and humid COTA circuit. Neither of the M Hybrid V8 cars made it into the final Hyperpole session for the top ten cars, with the #15 car of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor starting 11th and the #20 starting 13th. The Hypercar pole went to the #51 Ferrari. In LMGT3, the #32 M4 GT3 EVO of Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus made it into the Hyperpole session and qualified seventh, while the #69 M4 GT3 EVO of McIntosh, Thompson and Harper started 16th. The #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin was on the pole in LMGT3.
All four of the BMWs showed some promise in the six-hour race but it was ultimately a disappointing contest for all of them. The #15 was in the top five in Hypercar at one point but fell back after a late caution period and finished eighth. The #20 had a lackluster race and finished 12th, with the win going to the #50 Ferrari. Nonetheless, Rast and Frijns still lead the Hypercar driver points after COTA, due to bad luck for the #7 Toyota (van der Linde did not drive in the first race of the season). The #7 Toyota, which is second in points, was leading the race with just laps to go but had a hydraulic failure and had to retire. BMW is in second place in the manufacturer championship behind Toyota.
It was also a very frustrating race in LMGT3. The #69 M4 GT3 EVO had contact with another car that punctured a tire, which brought so much smoke into the cockpit that Anthony McIntosh could barely see to bring the car into pit lane. The unscheduled pit stop also resulted in a penalty, and the #69 car (which was wearing throwback livery to commemorate the 1970’s-era Levi’s-sponsored 3.0 CSL) finished 11th. The #32 M4 GT3 EVO was running as high as third at one point but lost ten laps due to a faulty sensor and also had a penalty for exceeding track limits. They finished 16th. The LMGT3 class win went to the #27 Aston Martin.
BMW M Team WRT is still in a strong position to contend for the Hypercar championship through the remaining three races despite the setback at COTA. “It was a tough weekend,” said Team Principal Vincent Vosse. “We didn’t have the necessary pace with our Hypercars, but at least we scored some points. We’re happy that we could maintain the lead in the drivers’ standings and stay in the fight for first place in the manufacturers’ standings, but of course the retirement of the Toyota is extremely unfortunate. The crew had such a strong weekend. But that’s racing sometimes.”
The next round of the FIA WEC is the Six Hours of Fuji in Japan on September 25th-27th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Javier Jimenez / Drew Gibson Photography]