The Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of the world’s most historic and prestigious endurance races and is also the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC). It sets the tone for the rest of the season, and BMW teams showed they will be competitive this year by running at the front in both prototype and GT classes and narrowly missing out on podium finishes.
There were five BMWs on the entry for this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. In the top-tier GTP class, BMW M Team RLL was there with the #24 M Hybrid V8 driven by Philipp Eng, Dries Vanthoor, Kevin Magnussen, and Raffaele Marciello, and the #25 car driven by Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast. In GTD Pro, Paul Miller Racing had a pair of M4 GT3 EVOs, with the #1 car driven by Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi, and Kelvin van der Linde. The #48 car was driven by Max Hesse, Dan Harper, Jesse Krohn, and Augusto Farfus. In GTD, Turner Motorsport had the sole BMW entry, with Robby Foley, Patrick Gallagher, Jake Walker, and Jens Klingmann in the #96 M4 GT3 EVO.
Dries Vanthoor led from pole in the opening stages of the race.
The GTP class is the top tier of the IWSC. Porsche Penske Motorsport came in as the team to beat, having won the championship in 2024, but BMW M Team RLL showed that they will be much more of a factor in the championship this year than last. In qualifying, Dries Vanthoor put the #24 M Hybrid V8 on the GTP class pole with a 1:33.895 lap, followed by the #93 Acura and the #7 Porsche. The top five cars were within a half-second of each other in qualifying. Unfortunately, Sheldon van der Linde didn’t get a chance to put a fast lap in with the #25 M Hybrid V8, as there was a failure in the high-voltage hybrid system that caused the car to stall out on track.
In GTD Pro qualifying, Dan Harper (who was in his debut race in IMSA) put the #48 M4 GT3 EVO into third on the grid behind a pair of Ford Mustang GT3s. He was less than five-tenths of a second off the pole time. In GTD, Robby Foley drove the #96 Turner M4 GT3 EVO to thirteenth on the grid with a 1:47.281 lap, with the pole going to the #120 Wright Motorsport Porsche with a 1:46.634. The top fifteen GTD cars were within a second of each other in qualifying.
Turner Motorsport finished a solid fifth in GTD.
At the start of the race, Dries Vanthoor held the lead and quickly built a gap between himself and the rest of the field. When he came in for his first pit stop, he held a 24-second lead, but he misjudged the pit box entry and hit the pit wall with the front of the car. The team then got a penalty on that car for refueling while it was up on jacks, which is prohibited. The team fought back and ran in second and third by three hours into the race, with the #25 running ahead of the #25. In GTD Pro, Dan Harper moved into the front when the leading #9 Lamborghini had a holdup in the pits.
As often happens at Daytona, attrition played a key factor in the race. Max Hesse was leading GTD Pro in the #48 M4 GT3 EVO in the eighth hour when he was caught in a multi-car accident. Hesse managed to avoid the cars that were crashing in front of him but was hit hard in the rear by the #9 Lamborghini. The team got the car back out on track, but they were several laps down. By midway through the race, the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO had moved into the lead in GTD Pro, while the M Hybrid V8s were running in fifth (24) and seventh (25). The #96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 EVO was running in third in GTD.
Tommy Milner in the Corvette and Connor De Phillippi in the BMW battle for position.
As the sun rose Sunday morning and the race entered its final hours, there was more drama involving the BMWs. Augusto Farfus was at the wheel of the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT4 EVO that was several laps down when the GTD Pro leading #4 Corvette caught up to him, with Connor De Phillippi in second behind the Corvette in the #1 Paul Miller M4 GT3 EVO. The trio ran nose to tail for several laps when De Phillippi and the #4 Corvette driven by Tommy Milner made contact in the International Horseshoe turn, which resulted in rear bodywork damage to the Corvette. Farfus was penalized for blocking, but the #1 eventually moved into the lead in GTD Pro.
In the closing hour, the #24 M Hybrid V8 was plagued by a drivability issue when the front bodywork became loose, which led Dries Vanthoor to bring the car into the pits to replace the nose of the car with just 30 minutes left. It dropped the car to fourth in GTP behind the winning #7 Porsche, the #60 Acura, and the #6 Porsche. The #25 BMW finished in seventh. “Of course, we had hoped for a different outcome of the Daytona weekend,” said BMW M CEO Franciscus van Meel. “With 50 minutes left, we were in the fight for the win in all categories. Everyone could see how fast and reliable our car is. The drivers and the teams did a great job and made no mistakes. But that’s racing.”
The #48 Paul Miller M4 GT3 EVO was leading GTD Pro for much of the race but finished twelfth.
In GTD Pro, the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO driven by Kelvin van der Linde was running in the top three when he was tagged by a Corvette going into turn one, which dropped them to fourth at the finish. The #65 Ford Mustang GT3 took the win, followed by the #3 Corvette and the #64 Ford Mustang. The #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW ended up in twelfth. In GTD, the Turner Motorsport team had a solid race to finish in fifth, with the class win going to the #13 Corvette, which was followed on the podium by the #120 Porsche and the #27 Aston Martin.
The second longest IMSA endurance race of the year takes place in mid-March, with the 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway in Florida, just three hours south of Daytona. If the Daytona race is anything to go by, it promises to be another exciting race. BMW of North America will also be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of their overall win at Sebring in 1975 with the 3.0 CSL.
—David Haueter
[Photo by David Haueter]
