BMW says he was convinced of the potential of Dries VanThoor in LMDH machines before participating in the Hypercar Program at the World Endurance Championship.
Vanthoor stepped up to WEC’s top class at BMW in 2024 after a formidable stint at GT Racing, which won three consecutive titles at Nurburgring 24 Hours, and a class win at Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Belgian gelled well with the Dalala-based BMW M Hybrid V8, topped its first qualifier at Le Mans last year, propelling the car to the podium at Fuji in 2024 and Imola in 2025.
He also took three consecutive pole positions at this year’s IMSA Sports Car Championship, showing off his impressive one-lap pace.
However, BMW Motorsport boss Andreas Luth says he’s not surprised to see Vantour bringing the form of GT races to LMDH and chasing his career from the early days.
Ruth cited Vantor’s rapid adaptation to ome glitter in 2022. This included a class victory in his second appearance at Fuji WEC LMP2.
“When Vantor went after a bit of what he had done in the past, it wasn’t the first time he had sat on a prototype with a BMW,” Ruth told Crash.Net.
“He already had some experience with LMP2 cars. He already raced Le Mans in the LMP2 cars and Fuji in the LMP2 cars.
“And when you’re already seeing what he can do, you’re just jumping into a few single races and you know he’s not only fast for GT cars, but he’s quick for prototype cars too.
“In the end he proved to be a very quick driver and we are very happy. We can clearly say about the eight drivers in the hypercar program.
“This is also a big part of success. It means that there’s a very good spirit and that all drivers are more or less on the same level, and I think that from BMW’s point of view, I’m very pleased with the lineup of very strong drivers.”
Vanthoor has played a leading role in BMW becoming a real front runner at both WEC and IMSA over the past six eight months, but the 27-year-old shared his considerable error in recent races.
With the 24 Hours of Daytona, which opened the season, Vantour held the lead from pole position early in the race.
In the 12 hours of Sebring, he was hit by a drive-through penalty to replace lanes before the start/finish line.
Vanthoor is extremely difficult to create unforced errors, just as McLaren driver Lando Norris is very self-critical in Formula 1.
When asked what advice he would give to the 27-year-old in such a situation, Ruth said:
“Finally, it’s a race and he’s fighting for top results and he wants to win the race the way we want to win the race.
“I can never say that about dryness he didn’t give everything he could to make this happen.
“It’s true, we also discussed when this kind of thing happened. You don’t need to tell them dryness because he’s going to work very seriously.
“He said, what went wrong, what went well, and most importantly, learn from the mistakes and improve it next time.”
Please read again: How BMW turned the LMDH programme at WEC and IMSA