BMW M Motorsport has announced it will keep the same eight works drivers to drive the redesigned BMW M Hybrid V8 in 2026, in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Philipp Eng, Robin Frijns, Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello, René Rast, Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Marco Wittmann will drive for BMW M Team WRT in either WEC or IMSA, with Vanthoor and van der Linde pulling “double duty” in both series, outside of a calendar clash between the IMSA Grand Prix of Long Beach and the WEC 6 Hours of Imola.
There’s no changes to Team WRT’s WEC line-ups for 2026: The No. 15 BMW will be driven by Magnussen, Marciello, and Vanthoor, and the No. 20 BMW will be driven by Frijns, Rast, and van der Linde.
Eng, Wittmann, Vanthoor, and van der Linde will continue to race full-time in IMSA GTP with WRT, as they did last year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2025. But the driver pairings have been shuffled this year as Vanthoor and van der Linde will race together in the No. 24 BMW, with Eng moving to the No. 25 BMW to join Wittmann.
Robin Frijns (No. 24) and Kevin Magnussen (No. 25) will join for select Michelin Endurance Cup rounds as they did the previous season, while Rast (No. 24) and Marciello (No. 25) will round out the line-ups for the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.
“Consistency was our priority when selecting the Hypercar drivers for the 2026 season,” said Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport. “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. I’m very much looking forward to continuing this collaboration.”