Sheldon van der Linde warns against expecting too much from the BMW M Hybrid V8 in its first WEC season – WRT’s initial focus on reliability
“We can’t expect to get up there and beat Ferrari or Toyota or whoever.” – Sheldon van der Linde is under no illusions about the debut of the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the 1,812 kilometers of Qatar. Van der Linde will contest the 24 Hours of Daytona with the car this weekend as part of Team RLL.
“We have to develop the car step by step and create a good basis for the start in Qatar,” he said in a more defensive tone than last September, when the aim was to become the best LMDh at the first attempt.
“With myself, Robin [Frijns] and Rene [Rast], we have very experienced drivers to drive the program and make sure the car is not only fast but also reliable. It’s one thing to work on the pace of the car, but you also have to make sure that the car lasts to the end, especially in the early stages of development.
So for BMW, reliability comes first. “For us, the most important thing is to see the chequered flag at the beginning and make sure we have a reliable car, and then we start working on performance race by race,” emphasizes the 2022 DTM champion.
This weekend’s outing at Daytona is not the South African’s first encounter with the BMW M Hybrid V8. Last year, he raced for Team RLL as an endurance driver at Daytona, Sebring and the Petit Le Mans. He finished second in the 2023 12 Hours of Sebring.
He is “very pleased with the progress” the team has made since this podium finish, which only came about through a bit of luck when three GTP cars knocked each other out of the race shortly before the end. “At the beginning of last year, we were obviously behind, the car had a long way to go,” he emphasizes.
The same applies to the test year with WRT in preparation for the 2024 WEC season: “We made some really good steps with WRT in the winter, they did a really good job and as everyone knows, they are one of the best teams active in this field.”
RLL and WRT work closely together: “It’s no secret that we get almost all the data from them. It’s been a tough start in IMSA, but the development of the car over the course of the season has been really strong, it’s been an upward trend so far.”
“I think we have a strong car that we can compete with and the exchange of information between the two teams is open. This should obviously speed up the learning process and help us to get to grips with the new car, which we haven’t used before at Team WRT. “
