Rast: BMW Drivers, WRT “Raised Our Game” This Year

Photo: Charly López/DPPI

Rene Rast believes the BMW Hypercar drivers and the WRT squad have “raised our game” in the FIA World Endurance Championship this season as the German manufacturer sits second in both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 achieved its first WEC victory thanks to Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 20 car leading home the sister WRT machine at Spa, before then following that up with a strong second place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month.

Rast said “you couldn’t expect that” upturn in performance before the start of the season and believes the updated Evo package has undoubtedly played a significant part in BMW’s improvement, but has also highlighted other factors.

“The Evo package for sure is the biggest part of it but also I think we as drivers are on a better level compared to the last years,” he told Sportscar365.

“The last years you could see small little mistakes from the drivers here and there, penalties, whereas this year we haven’t done a single one. No penalties, no contact, which is also very important.

“As drivers we raised our game, the team raised their game — it was a collective step up from every department.

“The car is better to drive in a better window — it’s more consistent — and also the tires have changed and they seem to suit our car as well a little bit better, so there’s lots of things that have contributed to that success not only is it the Evo package.”

Rast also said that WRT having taken over operation of the BMW M Hybrid V8s in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for this year, in addition to the WEC program, has brought many benefits.

“I think it makes a huge difference if you have two programs in the same team because you can learn from each other,” he added.

“They went testing at Atlanta this week and then we might try something out for the WEC program as well. You gain some experience that you can use for WEC so it’s a nice bonus.”

Frijns revealed that BMW is still working to fully understand the updated Evo package, particularly the way in which the car’s pace was transformed in the race at Spa after a tricky qualifying.

“We were surprised in Spa we were so competitive because we had this different strategy and got in the clean air and the car suddenly started working,” Frijns — who is relishing the stronger results after “difficult” previous seasons — told Sportscar365.

“We’re still investigating why we were performing so well in Spa in free air.”

Despite the general increase in competitiveness — with the No. 20 machine also achieving a fifth place at the Imola opener, contributing to the crew’s narrow four-point deficit to the pacesetting Toyota in the drivers’ standings — Rast is unsure where the BMW will be in the pecking order at Interlagos this weekend.

“Every time we come to a track from last year it’s like a reset because we don’t know which cars will suit the track better this year compared to last year,” said Rast, referencing the significant number of new and updated cars on the Hypercar grid for this season.

“Hopefully we will play a role and have a top-three result or maybe a top-five result. As long as we score points it’s good because we want to fight for a world championship.

“If we can sneak some points away from Toyota and be leading the championship after this weekend, I think we’ve fulfilled our goals.”

Source: Sports Car 365