BMW has confirmed that Kevin Magnussen will contest next year’s World Endurance Championship on a full-time basis, with several IMSA outings also planned for the Dane.
Magnussen enjoyed his swansong appearance in Formula 1 last weekend in Abu Dhabi, the now former Haas driver capping a decade long career at the pinnacle of motorsport during which he took part in 185 Grands Prix.
BMW has recruited the 32-year-old for its WEC Hypercar programme, with Magnussen joining the likes of Philipp Eng, Robin Frijns, Raffaele Marciello, Rene Rast, Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Marco Wittmann.
Magnussen has been assigned to BMW’s #15 entry which he will share with Marciello and Vanthoor, while Frijns, Rast, and van der Linde will handle the team’s #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 machine.
The German manufacturer has overhauled its lineup for next year’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, with only Eng being retained.
The Austrian will share the #24 BMW with Vanthoor, while Wittmann will join in to help steer the outfit’s #25 car alongside Van der Linde.
However, Magnussen will help strengthen BMW’s lineup in America for IMSA’s longer endurance races – namely Daytona, Sebring, and Road Atlanta.
“We have high goals for the upcoming season with our BMW M Hybrid V8 prototypes,” commented Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport.
“To achieve these, we are striving for optimisations in all areas. For our driver line-up, this means focusing and specialising.
“The more time our drivers spend behind the wheel of the BMW M Hybrid V8, the better they will get to know its handling and the more feedback they can provide to our engineers.
“The goal is to intensify the development of the BMW M Hybrid V8 in collaboration with the specialists at the teams and at BMW M Motorsport.
“It also helps us in this regard, that some drivers compete in both championships, thereby further improving the exchange of information.
“We are convinced that this way joining our forces will bring us advantages.”
A clash between an IMSA round at Laguna Seca and the WEC race at Spa-Francorchamps will see WRT – which runs BMW’s factory endurance programme – reduce its lineups to two drivers per car, with Marciello/Magnussen and Frijns/Rast.
“Of course, the schedule overlap in May is not ideal, but we have the regulatory option to compete in a 6-hour FIA WEC race with two drivers per car, which we will utilize,” added Roos.
“The fact that the season starts in January with the 24-hour race at Daytona is very beneficial for us.
“This allows us to have all eight drivers together for an extended period early in the season, helping us to optimally synchronise with each other.”
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