The convergence between the technical concepts LMH and LMDh draws a new queen category of resistance at a global level. A concept in which a large group of brands such as Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Acura, BMW and later Lamborghini and Alpine, to which must be added ‘author’ projects such as Glickenhaus, ByKolles or even Isotta Fraschini. It is clear that the pilot market can be crazy due to the magnitude of the projects of some of these brands, since they will be present at both the IMSA and the WEC.
Nevertheless, many of these manufacturers feel that they already have the necessary talent within their walls and they are committed to not looking for pilots outside their structure. Those responsible for Ferrari have already dropped that the drivers of the GT program will carry the weight of the development of its LMH and will form its driver line-up in the WEC. Porsche has also slipped that it will follow this path and now it is BMW Motorsport that is committed to shaping its LMDh project from the drivers it already has on the payroll.
The truth is that BMW Motorsport has a very wide portfolio of pilots to attend to all the open fronts that the brand has in its GT program and that allow the brand to compete successfully in the DTM, in IMSA or in the different SRO GT championships, in addition to also having a prominent role in the 24 Nurburgring Hours, always with the new BMW M4 GT3 as standard. A campus that compose it up to sixteen official pilots, to which must be added three Junior pilots such as Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen.
In this sense, it should be remembered that pilots of the stature of Philipp Eng, Augusto Farfus, Timo Glock, Alexander Sims or Nicky Catsburg. They do not detract from the level of these Jake Dennis, Bruno Spengler, Marco Wittmann or Nick Yellolyas neither Stef Dusseldorp, John Edwards, Erik Johansson, Jens Klingmann or Jesse Krohnalthough perhaps the latter are less known to the general public. Completing the list are Connor De Phillippi and Sheldon Van der Linde.responsible for completing the shakedown of the BMW M Hybrid V8.
no wonder that Andreas Rooshead of BMW Motorsport, considers that he has the talent to have four fixed drivers at IMSA, plus two additional ones for the dates of the Michelin Cup and another two extra for Daytona, beyond those who may be in the WEC 2024: «I think we can be happy with our drivers. We have enough talent in our ranks and they can do a great job. There are a lot of drivers outside of the program who are interested in what we do, but I think we can be very happy with the drivers we have on the payroll. There’s no need to look further».
Photos: BMW Motorsport