BMW confirmed on Friday that it will not continue its IMSA SportsCar Championship venture with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. But why is the long partnership coming to an end?
"We confirm that we decided not to extend our contract with BMW M Team RLL for the Hypercar programme," BMW stated in a release sent to The Race. "At the moment, we are not at the point where we are able to announce our 2026 programme, as we are still in the process of defining it.
"We will make an announcement in due course. We are in talks with RLL regarding other projects in North America, as we would like to continue our collaboration with such a long-term partner and big name in North America."
A 16-year partnership
When launching its M Hybrid V8 programme in IMSA, BMW chose to rely on its long-time US sportscar partner RLL. This decision was officially announced on November 13 2021, during the Petit Le Mans weekend.
"BMW Team RLL is the ideal partner for our LMDh project," said Mike Krack, then head of BMW M Motorsport. "BMW M Motorsport has been working very successfully with Bobby Rahal and his crew since 2009. During this time, we have all come to know the IMSA series very well and have celebrated major success together. From our perspective, racing in the top class and challenging for overall victories from 2023 is the logical next step."
"When you compete with a new race car, it is a great advantage to already know what awaits you in the race series, at the circuits, and in terms of organisation," he added. "This is 100% the case with the set-up we have chosen. BMW Team RLL is not only one of the best teams in North America in GT racing, but also in formula racing, so we have all the right ingredients for success."
RLL has represented BMW's interests in GT endurance racing across the Atlantic since 2009. Together, the two have claimed two GTLM-class victories at the Daytona 24 Hours with the M8 GTE in 2019 and 2020, also winning the Endurance Cup that same year. Let's not forget the GT titles in 2010 and 2011 in the American Le Mans Series.
But all in all, that's not a massive haul for 16 years of collaboration.
In the GTP category, BMW has only two wins from 24 IMSA starts, compared to 11 for Porsche, four for Cadillac, and seven for Acura. And both of BMW's victories came under unusual circumstances: the first at Watkins Glen in June 2023 after the disqualification of the #6 Porsche, the second in August 2024 at Indianapolis after a rain-soaked race.
Why the split?
Quite simply because this year, despite a BoP (Balance of Performance) that was far from unfavourable, as proven by Dries Vanthoor's fourth consecutive pole positions, the M Hybrid V8 only got two podiums. That leaves the team fourth in the manufacturers' championship, the same position it finished in 2024. Only Lamborghini and Aston Martin, that are not contesting the full season, have scored fewer points.
After BMW M Team RLL let a seemingly certain victory slip through their fingers in Long Beach, we spoke with Andreas Roos, head of BMW Motorsport.
"To hope for better results, we need to stop making mistakes - and we've made some," Roos told The Race. "Let's be honest. One of our cars didn't pit at the right time, and the other had a pitstop that was too long. That shouldn't happen, and we have to acknowledge that some of our competitors were better than us. Overall, we served Porsche that result on a silver platter."
"At this level of competition, you just can't afford these kinds of things," he added. "Whether it's the engineers, the mechanics, or the drivers, if you make a mistake, you're punished immediately. And even more so at a race like Long Beach, a short event with only one pitstop."
Mistakes that fall on the shoulders of the racing team, not the car, which means RLL was directly accountable. A few weeks later, the verdict came down.
Should BMW fans be worried?
RLL out, WRT in? That does appear to be the plan. Currently in charge of the BMW World Endurance Championship programme, the Belgian team has been delivering strong performance for BMW, even if the first win is still elusive. WRT representatives were present at last month's Watkins Glen IMSA round, and The Race understands the team is indeed expected to expand its operations by taking over the IMSA M Hybrid V8 programme.
More importantly, the idea is to replicate the model Porsche has implemented with Penske, which has benefitted significantly from having the same racing team in both the WEC and IMSA. This enables a fully transparent and efficient exchange of information.
As for the programme itself, many believe BMW's involvement could be limited to the Endurance Cup rounds (Daytona 24, Sebring 12 Hours, Glen 6 Hours, Road America, and Petit Le Mans). But we can confirm that, as of now, no final decision has been made, and the possibility of BMW M Team WRT contesting the full 2026 IMSA season remains very real.
Good news for Rahal's struggling IndyCar team
Jack Benyon
I doubt this comes as a shock for RLL, but it does have lasting and wider implications.
Before we get to that, I do think this is harsh as RLL has given BMW its only two wins with this car, something WRT hasn't managed in the WEC.
But given the PR implications of the team having an FBI crew raiding it last year, and one of its big problems in IMSA this year being race execution given the car took four poles to start the year and hasn't won a race, you can see some of the reasons BMW might have had for making the decision.
Onto the wider implications and RLL's new factory, opened in 2023, was a massive investment for the owners and was designed partly with the IMSA team in mind.
Without the manufacturer backing of BMW, that's a significant loss in recouping that investment.
But, having said that, and with the knowledge this clearly isn't ideal, it might help the IndyCar programme.
The team has steadily fallen back in recent years to the point that even an occasional win each year isn't a given. It lost young star Christian Lundgaard to McLaren, and failed to make the Indianapolis 500 with Graham Rahal in 2023. It has fallen behind its bigger rivals in investing in engineering personnel and has had significant turnover on that front, sometimes in key positions.
It sits 21st, 22nd and 25th in the standings.
Without having to run the IMSA programme, it can bring some of those personnel back to IndyCar and add some strength. In this case, losing BMW might be the reset that inspires its IndyCar programme back to being where the investment and facilities show it should be.
And we've seen how quickly teams can lose and gain manufacturers in IMSA. You only have to look at Ganassi, which ran Ford's GT programme, lost that, took on Cadillac and then lost that also, all within five years.
And that's IndyCar's best team.
