The BMW M Hybrid V8 is down on pace compared to the other GTP cars in the 24 Hours of Daytona, say BMW Team RLL’s drivers – but they also aren’t too concerned about it impacting their race prospects.
“We were still lacking a bit of pace in qualifying, I think that’s pretty clear for everyone to see, so hoping in the race we can kind of pull that back a bit,” Sheldon van der Linde told MotorsportWeek.com. The two RLL-run cars will start seventh and eighth for the race, some seven or eight tenths off the ultimate pace, and only in front of the #7 Porsche 963, which did not set a time in qualifying.
“I think the race should be a lot better, we just need to be reliable as well. I don’t think it’s going to be a race of pace, but more who can just stay out of the garage for the least amount of time. If we can do that I think we should be pretty good for a nice result ,” the South African continued.
Unfortunately for BMW, the car’s relative lack of pace compared to its rivals isn’t exactly a secret. ““BMW seems to be a little behind pace but they will absolutely catch back. They are a great manufacturer and they will learn really quick so over the year we will see who has the best reliability,” #60 Meyer Shank Acura driver Filipe Albuquerque told MotorsportWeek.com.
In terms of reliability, the 2021 DTM champion said the Roar was great. “I think the Roar’s been really good in terms of reliability. We haven’t really had any issues in the last two weeks, which has been really good,” said the 23-year-old. “Given that the car, at least the #25, is still pretty new, that was only rolled out a few days before the Roar, so credit to the guys for that,” he added.
However, BMW also had the least amount of testing time compared to the other GTP teams, and van der Linde indicated this is showing at Daytona. “It’s been a short lead up to this race. To be honest, all of us would have liked to be able to do a bit more testing. I think it’s pretty clear that Porsche have done six months more than us. I think that shows on pace at least but in reliability, we’ve been good for the last two weeks so that’s a positive for us.”
However, van der Linde’s BMW teammate in the #24, Philipp Eng, said the team has made progress since the Roar, for practice and qualifying, last week. “I think we’ve made a huge step from the Roar, coming into race week. We made a few setup changes which went very well. So, we are learning very quickly with the car,” he told MotorsportWeek.com reporters.
When pressed on what those setup changes were, the Austrian said, “mostly on driveability. When you’re going into a 24 hour race, the car needs to handle predictably, so you can predict what the car needs and how you should react to it. This was not so much the case at the Roar, but when we went out yesterday, it was much, much better.”
In terms of race prospects meanwhile, IndyCar star Colton Herta – who will drive both the #24 and #25 M Hybrid V8s during the course of the race – told MotorsportWeek.com, “it’s going to be a race of attrition. I’m not really worried on where we’re at until probably the last four hours or so. Hopefully we can just keep our nose clean and not have any problems. That’s going to be the key this year to winning.”
