BMW: Double GTD Pro podium was possible in IMSA Sebring 12 Hours

Following a fraught IMSA SportsCar Championship debut for BMW’s new GT3 contender in January's Daytona 24 Hours, the two RLL entries were much more competitive at Sebring as Augusto Farfus and Nick Yelloly charged up the field in the first stint to put their respective cars in early podium contention.

Yelloly and his team-mates Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng remained the main challengers to the eventual race-winning Corvette Racing C8.R as the race reached its final hour, only for a late gearbox problem to drop the #24 BMW a lap down in fourth.

The sister #25 M4 driven by Farfus, Connor de Phillippi and John Edwards was also in the battle for podium spots in the early part of the race until a power steering failure necessitated a lengthy repair job, leaving the trio 10th in the 11-car GTD Pro class.

BMW’s new motorsport boss Andreas Roos was encouraged by the pace shown by both its factory M4 cars, but said he was left with “mixed feelings” due to the car's reliability problems.

“This race has once again confirmed that endurance racing not only has highlights in store but can also bring setbacks and the final results have been disappointing,” said Roos, who recently joined from Audi to replace newly-appointed Aston Martin Formula 1 team principal Mike Krack. 

“Right up into the final phase, it looked as if we could finish on the GTD Pro podium with our #24 and BMW M Team RLL. 

“But a race isn’t over until the chequered flag, and unfortunately a gearbox problem set us back a good hour before the end. The podium was clearly in the cards. 

“I’m convinced that the number 25 would have fought for the rostrum as well if it hadn’t been for the early problem with the power steering. It was important that we covered a lot of race