The sky appears to be the limit for BMW Team RLL at this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, after Dries Vanthoor powered the German brand to its first GTP pole position in the No. 25 M Hybrid V8.
The Belgian was masterful in the bitterly cold conditions, putting himself, full-season teammate Philipp Eng, Raffaele Marciello and new BMW signing Kevin Magnussen on the front of the grid for the opening race of the 2025 season on Saturday.
“For sure it wasn’t easy with the red flag (incidentally, caused by the sister BMW stopping on track),” Vanthoor said after qualifying. “It makes tire warming a bit more difficult for everyone. That was a big struggle for us last year, but we have been improving a lot. Then it was just about getting the lap together and trying to do the best that I could. That worked out, luckily, so I am very happy.
“We’ve been working hard. It’s nice to see that it’s working for everyone here, and also everyone back at the factory. I think everybody can be happy and proud of that, but (the pole) is a little cherry on a big cake and there’s still a big thing still to happen. That’s the race, and that can go any way.”
How much does this achievement mean ahead of a race like the Daytona 24 Hours? Unfortunately, not a lot. History certainly tells us that securing pole doesn’t guarantee anything for the twice-around-the-clock classic on the high banks. It’s a race where traditionally the performance of the front-runners doesn’t become clear until the closing stages.
Last year the Action Express Cadillac set a track record (with a lap more than a second quicker than this year’s best time in qualifying) en route to pole and finished second to the No. 7 Penske Porsche. And in fact, only once since the DPi era began in 2017 has the pole-sitting car won this race, that being the Meyer Shank Racing Acura in the GTP category’s debut in 2023.
So, while BMW’s motorsport boss Andreas Roos admits that topping the Roar Test Weekend and taking pole this afternoon means little if it doesn’t convert into a victory on Sunday, he does feel it’s a significant progress marker for the project in a wider sense.
The M Hybrid V8 program in GTP has underwhelmed all too often, with the RLL team capturing just two wins since its debut here two years ago. Back at this race back in 2023 – when the two M Hybrid V8s qualified seventh and eighth on the grid – BMW and the RLL crew were nowhere close to unlocking the potential of the car. Thankfully, a lot has changed since that week.
“Generally, to kick off the season with pole in Daytona couldn’t be much better,” he told RACER. “The work we’ve put into the project has paid off, we’ve shown that we’ve improved the car and got better and better. We were positive about the development work on the car and I think getting the first pole for the M Hybrid V8 is a nice reward.”
Beyond the obvious benefits that come with two seasons of data gathering, software development and general fine-tuning, what’s behind the uptick in form and positivity that surrounds the program ahead of its third season?
BMW has opted to shake things up in its driver roster across both IMSA and WEC, reducing the pool to eight and placing two drivers (Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde) on double duty in both championships in a bid to boost “team spirit” and power through the season efficiently.