It was never if, but when BMW M Team WRT was going to win in IMSA

If you’re an IMSA fan with any knowledge of the bigger sports car racing world, you knew BMW M Team WRT was bound to get its first win in the series sometime. The only question was when it would happen.

Turns out it was on a gray Sunday evening at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, fittingly enough: Indy is where the BMW M Hybrid V8 scored its first proper victory, a 1-2 finish in a wet/dry Battle on the Bricks enduro in 2024. Indy is also where Team WRT has won the last three editions of the Indianapolis 8 Hour in SRO.

And now with its first IMSA win in the books, to go along with two FIA World Endurance Championship victories for WRT and the newest-spec BMW M Hybrid V8, Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor feel there’s nowhere to go but up for WRT in IMSA.

“We know that we’re not in the championship fight anymore, so every result that we can have now through the end of the year is a bonus,” van der Linde said after capping off his team’s victory in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks. “We’ve won in WEC this year, two wins with both cars, and this was the only thing missing from our CV this year.

“It’s an incredible year for the team in itself, and I assume we’re only going to get stronger as next year progresses as well. I think it’s extremely important for us to get one on the board now and show that we can do it. We have the confidence now, and hopefully we can use the momentum to keep getting these results.”

It was a little less than a year ago that Team WRT was confirmed to take over BMW’s IMSA GTP program from longtime service provider Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. With a relatively small core staff, WRT took residence in the Haas F1 Team’s American campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina for its first season while keeping expectations modest from the start of its first season.

A third-place run to start the season in the Rolex 24 At Daytona quickly raised those expectations, along with WRT finally breaking through for its first WEC Hypercar victories at Spa and Interlagos.

“I think during the whole season we’ve always been in the mix and fighting for victories,” said Vanthoor, “but just never really been able to put everything together. And today, we did.

“It’s a great relief for me and Sheldon, but also for the team at WRT. Everybody’s been working so hard this season, you know, they’ve built up the team in a couple of months, and it’s so difficult to build up a team in such a short amount of time.

“And also, you always have the experience (racing) in Europe, but then when you come to the U.S., it’s just different. But now to have that relief, I think we’re super happy and super proud of it.”

Sunday's victory adds to Team WRT's triumphs in the Battle on the Bricks and the Indianapolis 8 Hour. Michael L. Levitt/IMSA

Van der Linde added that after three podium finishes between the two team cars, “It’s nice to give a reward back to the team for all the hard work that they’ve put in to build up this program, and now to materialize it and get a good result, it’s a dream come true.”

The South African driver played the most pivotal role in getting the No. 24 BMW the win. With five and a half minutes left when he lunged past the No. 64 Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evo (which was fighting for its own victory) and the GTP-leading No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R to take the lead after running Earl Bamber and the Cadillac close since the final restart.

“My engineer said to me on the radio, ‘you’ve got one more pack of GTs with 10 minutes to go,’ and I knew that was my last chance to get him – on pace, they were just too fast for us,” van der Linde recalled.

“I tried to stay close to him, before that he got stuck behind a GT car going into turn 10, and I got a very good run and went all the way to the inside. He wasn’t able to see me in his mirrors.”

And van der Linde admitted that the freedom of racing with no championship stakes was what enabled his breathtaking turn 12 overtake. “I was willing to risk everything for the win today,” he said.

“I knew obviously that they (Bamber and Jack Aitken) wouldn’t take too much risk being in the championship fight.

“We could play elbows out, and they couldn’t. I knew I had to use that to our advantage and it worked out perfectly.”

With the win, BMW M Team WRT has now reached the previous benchmark of Team RLL who’d taken at least one victory in all three GTP seasons from 2023 to 2025.

As 2026 winds down at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, site of the 29th Motul Petit Le Mans, the question now becomes if WRT will do what it was brought in for when BMW made the decision to switch teams: To turn BMW into legitimate GTP championship contenders for the first time in this era.