In June 2021, BMW formally announced they would join IMSA's GTP class in 2023, using an LMDh-compliant racing design.[8] 3 months later, it was confirmed BMW would work with Dallara as their chassis supplier, making BMW the first manufacturer in the LMDh ruleset to select Dallara as their partner.[9] A partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to campaign the cars in IMSA was announced in November 2021, continuing a relationship that began with the BMW M3 GT2 in 2009.[10] The M Hybrid V8's engine is a twin-turbochargedV8, which is a development of the engine found in the BMW M4 DTM during 2017 and 2018, paired with the standardised hybrid parts provided by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac.[11][12][13] In August 2022, it was announced BMW would bring the car to the FIA World Endurance Championship as well, operated by Team WRT.[14]
At the season opening 24 Hours of Daytona, Eng's No. 24 car started from seventh while Yelloly's No. 25 car was eighth.[15] In the opening hour of the race, a problem with the hybrid system forced Yelloy to the garage for an MGU replacement.[16][17] It later emerged on the track to finish 48th overall. The No. 24 car was relegated to sixth after encountering brake and electrical problems in the closing hours.[16] Farfus qualified ahead of De Phillippi at the 12 Hours of Sebring; they started sixth and eighth, respectively.[18] Eng, Farfus, and Wittmann's No. 24 car retired from the event with a cooling system failure.[19] De Phillippi, van der Linde, and Yelloly's sister No. 25 car recovered from a brake change in the final 2 hours to finish second after Mathieu Jaminet, Filipe Albuquerque, and Felipe Nasr collided.[19][20]
One month later at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Yelloly qualified in fourth while Farfus took fifth.[21] De Phillippi dueled the No. 7 Porsche and missed his breaking point at turn six and lost third position to the No. 10 Acura. De Phillippi eventually passed the No. 7 Porsche and finished second after Ricky Taylor crashed on the penultimate lap. The No. 24 car took fourth.[22] For the season's fourth round, the Motul Course de Monterey, BMW secured the fourth row with De Phillippi in seventh position and Eng in eighth.[23] Both cars lacked Cadillac's and Porsches' speed; the No. 24 car was fifth while the sister No. 25 car lost a tactical exchange of position and fell to eighth with a tyre disadvantage.[24][25]
The No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (pictured at the 2023 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen) took BMW's first overall victory in endurance prototype motor racing since 2000 at Silverstone.
De Phillippi and Yelloly started ahead of Eng and Farfus at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen after qualifying was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.[26] The No. 24 car retired with heavy damage after Farfus crashed at the exit of turn 1 on the opening lap.[27] The No. 25 car battled the No. 6 Porsche, the No. 31 Cadillac, and the No. 60 Acura for the lead. Through a better pit-stop strategy, De Phillippi overtook the No. 31 Cadillac and No. 60 Acura for the lead with 40 minutes remaining. De Phillippi battled the No. 6 Porsche for the win until Jaminet overtook the No. 25 BMW in the final minutes prior to the race ending behind the safety car, finishing in second.[28] Later, BMW inherited the victory after the Porsche was disqualified for illegal skid block wear.[29] For the Chevrolet Grand Prix, Farfus' No. 24 car qualified in sixth while Yelloly's No. 25 car took seventh.[30] The No. 25 car led in the second hour and finished third after using an alternative pit-stop strategy.[31] Eng almost hit a safety vehicle during the first full course yellow period while Farfus made contact with Renger van der Zande's No. 01 Cadillac at turn eight. Farfus was handed a time penalty post race for incident responsibility and the No. 24 BMW finished eighth.[32]
At the IMSA SportsCar Weekend, De Phillippi's No. 25 car qualified fifth and Eng's No. 24 car took eighth.[33] De Phillippi spun on the first formation lap was forced to start from tenth and crashed at turn eleven. The car later returned and completed 2 additional laps before retiring. Eng was overtaken by Albuquerque and Rockenfeller at the start. Eng's No. 24 BMW retired with gearbox problems.[33] At the season's penultimate round, the IMSA Battle on the Bricks in September, Eng's No. 24 entry started sixth and Yelloly's No. 25 car seventh.[34] Yelloy moved into third early and was overtaken by Derani after a slow pit stop. After the final round of pit stops, the No. 25 car jumped the No. 31 Cadillac to finish third.[35] The sister No. 24 car was tenth after Eng made contact with Bourdais on the opening lap and encountered electrical issues.[36][37] At the season-closing Petit Le Mans, Farfus qualified the No. 24 car in third and De Phillippi's No. 25 car took sixth.[38] De Phillippi ran fourth after the second full course yellow and dropped to seventh after running wide at turn 10a while Farfus dropped to ninth after serving a drive-through penalty for changing lanes before crossing the start finish line at the start.[39]Sheldon van der Linde collided with Alexander Sims in the pits during the third full course yellow period and received a nose change as well as stop plus 60 second hold penalty for running the red light at the exit of the pits, and drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.[40] Both cars moved up after the No. 10 Acura retired and finished seventh and eighth, respectively.[41]
Racing results
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap.
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