BMW is undertaking its first WEC programme since its M8 contested the GTE Pro class in 2018-19, and embarking on a first bid for outright success at the Le Mans 24 Hours since its V12 LMR won in 1999 with Yannick Dalmas, Pierluigi Martini and Joachim Winkelhock.
But the German manufacturer heads into this weekend’s Qatar 1862km event on the back of a troubled showing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s blue riband event in Florida, where the best of M Hybrid V8s finished 13 laps down in seventh place.
However, BMW doesn’t see the result in Daytona as a concern for the start of its new WEC project, having put in a significant amount of work to iron out the issues with its Dallara-based LMDh contender that made its IMSA debut last year.
Apart from the efforts put in back at its base, BMW also racked up a number of laps with the car in conjunction with its WEC partner squad WRT, including at a 24-hour test in Spain, to be in best possible shape for the 10-hour fixture at the Losail International Circuit.
Speaking to Autosport on Wednesday, BMW motorsport boss Andreas Roos expressed optimism about the reliability of the car for its first year of competition in the WEC.
“The car was quick enough to be on the podium but we had reliability issues,” he said.
“This was our highest priority in the last few days from Daytona to now, to attack them and to get them solved.
“We are confident what happened there shouldn't happen here but you never know.
Source: Autosport