Despite a New Team, BMW's M Hybrid V8 2026 Driver Lineup Is Unchanged

BMW will once again contest both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship with the updated M Hybrid V8 in 2026, with both teams run by WRT. Besides the updated car and WRT taking over the IMSA program from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, everything else is pretty much staying the same.

BMW M Motorsport will keep the same drivers in the two programs that they used in 2025, with only one slight tweak to the IMSA GTP class lineup. For 2026, Sheldon van der Linde will partner with Dries Vanthoor in the #24 car and Philipp Eng will pair with Marco Wittmann in the #25. That’s a change from 2025, when van der Linde partnered with Wittmann and Vanthoor partnered with Eng. For the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Robin Frijns and René Rast will join the #24 car and Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello will join the #25. Frijns and Magnussen will also help out in the longer endurance races at Sebring, Watkins Glen, Road America and Road Atlanta.

Sheldon van der Linde (left) and Dries Vanthoor will be IMSA co-drivers in 2026.

In the FIA WEC championship Hypercar class, Magnussen, Marciello and Vanthoor will pilot the #15 car and Frijns, Rast and van der Linde will drive the #20. As in 2025, Vanthoor and van der Linde will drive full time in both series, so they will be racking up more frequent flier miles than the rest.

BMW M Motorsport is hoping that the continuity in the driver lineup and having the same team (WRT) run both programs will result in more success in 2026. “Consistency was our priority when selecting the Hypercar drivers for the 2026 season,” said Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos. “We are very satisfied with the performance of all eight drivers, and there is no reason to make major changes. With every race, our drivers gain more experience with the BMW M Hybrid V8, which is crucial for the continued progress of our program. In 2026, we will race with an updated car and a new team in the IMSA Series. That’s enough change, so it was important for us to maintain continuity on the driver side. The key is that everyone works well as a team, pulls together, and advances our LMDh project. That’s exactly what’s happening.”