BMW believes no one was sandbagging on Le Mans test day

BMW wrapped up a clean and well-executed day of testing, with its fastest LMDh prototype posting the eighth-best time, 1.374s off Toyota’s benchmark. Within the German camp, just as others across the paddock, there was little interest in chasing lap times or playing games.

Operating under the Team WRT banner and managed by Vincent Vosse, BMW focused solely on its own programme, keeping its eyes on preparation and setup rather than on any early comparison with rivals.

“We worked on different set-ups, different possibilities of what we might need in the race: ride height, of course, and how the car feels for the driver. The goal is to have a car that’s good for the race,” the Belgian team boss explained.

As for a pecking order? It’s not quite time to draw conclusions, says Vosse.

“Since I think we’re still a bit far from the lap times that will be posted later in the week, it’s hard to form an opinion now,” Vosse said, though he did point to the two usual suspects. “Ferrari and Toyota seem to be very fast right now, obviously. But we’re still so far from where we need to be. We’ll worry about that later.”

It’s an approach BMW believes was shared throughout the Le Mans pitlane, with Sunday being all about preparation — no bluffing, no games.

“No, I don’t think anyone was sandbagging,” he stated. “I think everyone’s working. Everyone’s doing their job, and no one’s really focusing yet on chasing lap times.”

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Kevin Magnussen

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Anything else worth noting? “Nothing special to report,” Vosse said, though when pressed agreed that wasn’t entirely true. The #20 BMW (Magnussen-Vanthoor-Marciello), while fastest of the two cars, was also responsible for triggering the first red flag of the day after stopping near the Porsche Curves.

“We had a small warning on the #20 and stopped the car,” Vosse confirmed.

“We still need to check what happened, we’ll see what comes of it. Otherwise, we completed all the work we needed on both cars, and the drivers on both sides are happy with the feeling.”

Photos from 24 Hours of Le Mans – Test Day