Marciello in as BMW firms trios
Raffaele Marciello will race BMW’S M Hybrid V8 LMDH in the World Endurance Championship as expected. The Italian was named this week as part of the factory WRT team’s Hypercar roster for the German manufacturer’s maiden assault on the class.
Former Mercedes GT star Marciello, who was signed from under the nose of Lamborghini by BMW for 2024, was announced together with Marco Wittmann as Dries Vanthoor’s team-mate in one car. Sheldon van der Linde, who like Vanthoor was named on the WEC entry list in November, will be joined in the other LMDH by WRT regulars
Rene Rast and Robin Frijns.
BMW stalwart and two-time DTM champion Wittmann is switching full-time to the prototype ranks after making three appearances in the IMSA Sportscar Championship last year with the Rahal team alongside his GT commitments in the DTM and GT World Challenge Europe. Rast and Frijns always looked shoo-ins for Hypercar seats after being announced as BMW drivers in August 2022 and 2023 respectively.
“We have combined driving excellence with experience, on the one hand experience with our LMDH car, on the other hand experience of the [WEC] and the Le Mans 24 Hours in particular,” said BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos.
BMW also confirmed its IMSA GTP line-up at Rahal last week in the run-up to this month’s season-opening Daytona 24 Hours. Jesse Krohn is returning to the team with which he raced full-time in GT Le Mans in 2018-21. The Finn will share with Philipp Eng in place of Augusto Farfus, who will be racing in LMGT3 with WRT in the WEC this year. Nick Yelloly and Connor De Phillippi will remain paired in the other car.