BMW Motorsport’s 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season continues to show strong qualifying performance, but the team is still chasing its first win. At the third race of the season in Long Beach, Dries Vanthoor once again put the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 on pole, completing a hat trick after earlier pole positions at Daytona and Sebring. Sheldon van der Linde secured second place in the #25 car, giving BMW another front-row lockout.
Despite leading early in the race, both BMW M Team RLL entries lost positions during pit stops under the first yellow flag. Philipp Eng, who took over the #24 from Vanthoor, finished in third place, giving the team its first podium of the season. Marco Wittmann, who replaced van der Linde in the #25 car, recovered from tenth place to finish fifth.
While BMW’s one-lap pace continues to be a strength, the team has struggled to convert strong qualifying results into wins. So far this season, the BMWs have started from pole in every race but have yet to secure a victory. The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport team, driven by Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, secured their third consecutive overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
In the championship standings, BMW is currently second in the manufacturers’ title race, just ahead of Acura, but more than 130 points behind Porsche. In the drivers’ standings, Vanthoor and Eng are third with 875 points, while van der Linde and Wittmann are sixth with 832 points. Porsche’s leading driver duo has already scored 1,140 points.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, acknowledged both the progress and the challenges: “The third pole position in the third race of the season for Dries Vanthoor and the complete front row in BMW M Motorsport’s hands – that was fantastic. But we lost valuable positions during the pit stops, which cost us the chance of winning. Still, the first podium of the season is a success we can build on.”
In the GTD class, Turner Motorsport finished fifth with the #96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher.