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BMW, Rahal Letterman Lanigan to split

The factory relationship between BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing that began in 2009 will come to its conclusion at end of the current IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship season.

While IMSA fans await the news on BMW’s intentions for next year with the GTP program, RACER understands one piece of the puzzle is already in place as the brand has chosen to consolidate its efforts behind Belgium’s WRT outfit as its sole service provider for factory M Hybrid V8 racing campaigns. WRT currently runs BMW’s FIA WEC Hypercar program.

RLL’s leadership group recently informed its IMSA staff of the upcoming change and is actively seeking the next racing engagement to run from its vast base of operations on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Indiana.

“We are obviously disappointed that our racing relationship with BMW is coming to an end after so many years where we’ve had a lot of success with them,” Bobby Rahal told RACER.

“It was a privilege and an honor to represent BMW on the circuits of America and in Canada, and now it’s time to move onto new things.”

The BMW/Rahal Letterman partnership began in the team’s pre-Lanigan days with a test at Sebring in 2009. Photo by Marshall Pruett

Talks with manufacturers that would keep the team in IMSA within one of its range of classes is RLL’s preferred next step. And if that isn’t immediately possible, exploring a potential NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program and branching out into Indy NXT are among the possibilities under consideration by the team.

“We’re in discussions with several manufacturers for 2026 and beyond, and we have a turnkey team for a manufacturer to step into,” Rahal said.

“Based on our successful track record with BMW over these 17 years, that’s something to be proud of and something where we want another manufacturer to partner with us and bring us to bear on their behalf.

“Mike Lanigan and I, we’ve also talked about LMP2, which is a fantastic class, and Indy NXT as being a series where we could see ourselves racing. I don’t know if NASCAR Trucks is where I see us fitting before IMSA or NXT, but never say never.”

Launching together in the former American Le Mans Series and continuing in today’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, BMW M Team RLL produced the ALMS Teams’ championship for BMW in 2010 within the GT2 class, ran the table in 2011 with Teams’, Manufacturers’, and Drivers’ championships, and won the series’ biggest race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, two times with the BMW E92 M3.

A shift to the BMW Z4 platform in 2013 saw wins delivered at Long Beach and Lime Rock, and with the dawn of IMSA’s return, RLL added more wins with the Z4 with a trio of victories in 2015 at Long Beach, Laguna Seca, and COTA. Switching over to BMW’s new M6 GTLM, three wins for the big sedan came at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, CTMP, and Laguna Seca, and two more were netted in 2018 at Laguna Seca and VIR.

The 2019 season offered a single win for RLL and BMW with the M6 GTLM, but it was at the biggest event on the calendar at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, and they went back-to-back by defending the win at the Rolex 24 in 2020 along with adding a second victory later in the season at the Road Atlanta sprint event.

The team found some performance ahead of the current season and picked up a run of early poles – most recently at Laguna Seca – but it’s still waiting for its first win of the year. Mike Levitt/IMSA

Amid COVID-19 and a downturn in automobile sales, BMW reduced its IMSA program to a four-race Michelin Endurance Championship operation and cut its longstanding two-car effort to a single full-time entry for 2022 with the new M4 GT3 and a two-race run for a second car as BMW prepared its return to the top level of sports car racing with IMSA’s new hybrid GTP class in 2023.

With the M Hybrid V8 demonstrating a need for more development as factory rivals at Acura and Cadillac and Porsche won all but one race, BMW M Team RLL was awarded the victory at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen after the first-placed Porsche failed post-race technical inspection.

In 2024, RLL and BMW claimed its first outright GTP triumph by leading the field to the checkered flag at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Together in 2025, the partners found some of the final pieces of speed the car had previously lacked during preparations for the current season, with BMW M Team RLL snaring pole position at Daytona, Sebring, Long Beach, and Laguna Seca – four straight starts at the head of the field – but it continues to pursue its first win of the year after landing a pair of podiums.

Three more chances to end the 17-year relationship on a high note exist at the August 3 Road America race, the September 21 return to Indianapolis for the new six-hour enduro, and the 10-hour season finale at Road Atlanta on October 11.

“Having represented BMW Motorsport and BMW as a brand in racing in this country, and successfully doing so for as long as we have, I think that’s attractive to a manufacturer,” Rahal said. “And I’m quite confident that we will have a new program to go with IndyCar, most likely in IMSA, but we’ll have a new program regardless.”