Team WRT’s co-founder looks back upon the #69 BMW’s 6 Hours of Imola LMGT3 class triumph and reveals the squad’s objectives ahead of round two of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, which takes place on its home soil – the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend (7–9 May).
BMW M Team WRT had to wait 728 days between victories in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Two years after its Imola one-two finish in the LMGT3 category with the #31 and #46 BMW M4s, the German-Belgian outfit ended its drought back in Emilia-Romagna again with the #69 entry piloted by Parker Thompson, Dan Harper and Anthony McIntosh.
For the third year running – with the #46 BMW M4 placing second in 2025 – the Munich manufacturer was at the forefront in Italy. “We can’t pinpoint the exact reason why we perform so well at Imola, but the chicanes and fast sequences suit the BMW well,” Vincent Vosse told fiawec.com. “You could argue that Imola is a bit like our home circuit!”
The M4 LMGT3 Evo certainly looked at home around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. With strong single-lap speed, the #69 and #32 BMWs clocked the fourth and fifth-fastest Hyperpole times – a solid starting-point at a circuit like Imola, where overtaking can sometimes be a fine art.
Fortunately, McIntosh was equal to it by pulling off, in Vosse’s words, ‘a spectacular start with some magnificent overtaking manœuvres’ to take the LMGT3 lead class before handing over to team-mate Thompson. Harper then heroically held off intense pressure from Nicky Catsburg to take the flag just 0.265 seconds ahead of the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06!
“I already had a good feeling that with this crew we could achieve podium finishes and eventually a victory”, said the Northern Irishman, “but for it to happen in the very first race was incredible.”
Vosse praised the harmony between Team WRT, the drivers and BMW in securing a ‘long-awaited’ P1. “The team’s experience in terms of strategy allowed us to be at the front for almost the entire race. It was a complete team win, gained by the drivers who put in a flawless performance, and by BMW, who provided us with a competitive car.”
This curtain-raising success was also down to Rahel Frey. The Swiss driver has joined WRT as Sporting Director of its GT programmes. The former Iron Dames racer, who made FIA WEC history alongside Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy by securing the maiden victory for an all-female trio in Bahrain in 2023, is responsible for ensuring that both the drivers and the team comply with the championship’s sporting regulations.
“I’ve known Rahel for about 15 years,” reveals Vosse, who points out that Frey had already driven for Team WRT in GT races back in 2013. “I knew how professional she was behind the wheel. I had this idea last winter. I got in touch with her, we talked about it, and she gave it some careful thought. As she always is in everything she does, she is 100 per cent committed.”
The M4 Evos weren’t the only BMWs to shine in the 6 Hours of Imola. Indeed, the M Hybrid V8s achieved their best overall result in almost a year, with the #20 and #15 Hypercars taking the chequered flag respectively fifth and seventh. René Rast and Robin Frijns might even have been in contention for a podium position had the #20 not been handed a drive-through penalty.
“This is the first time in three years that we haven’t made it onto the podium at Imola,” notes Team WRT’s co-founder. “So the result was a bit bittersweet. There were positives, of course – we had a solid weekend – but there were extra points to be won.”
Vosse was nevertheless pleased with the changes brought to the German Hypercar, after the Bavarian brand used an EVO Joker to radically overhaul its aerodynamic package. “There are still aspects of the car we need to improve and understand, but we’ve made progress in certain areas. We’re on the right path.”
BMW M Team WRT’s next path leads the squad home, to Belgium, for this weekend’s second round of the 2026 FIA WEC campaign – the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Since its 2023 LMP2 class win around the 7.004km Ardennes rollercoaster, Team WRT has faced the harsh realities of motor racing in front of its home crowd.
In 2025, the #31 M4 and the #20 M Hybrid V8 were forced to retire. The previous edition, meanwhile, was marked by the spectacular high-speed Kemmel collision between Sean Gelael’s #31 BMW and Earl Bamber’s #2 Cadillac V-Series R. “We’ve had some difficult weekends with several accidents,” admits Vosse. “It’s always been tricky, but it’s always nice to race at home. We’re looking forward to it, and I think Spa could suit us well.”
Another haul of points in the Ardennes would cement BMW’s third place in the Hypercar Manufacturers’ Championship. Will the experience gained by Team WRT and the Bavarian brand over the last two years enable them to spring a surprise at the top of endurance racing’s premier class? “The relationship between BMW and WRT is excellent,” concludes Vosse. “We have a responsibility to fight for our first victory and a top three finish in the championship. I think our objectives are entirely realistic. For now, we’re on-track!”
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