WEC/IMSA News: BMW commits to Hypercar while Lamborghini says adios
After recent Balance of Power (BoP) adjustments made BMW a winner, BMW has announced that it will continue to contest the FIA World Endurance Championship’s and IMSA’s Hypercar category for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, Lamborghini, which did not get enough BoP adjustments to make it into a winner, has killed off its Hypercar program in both the WEC and IMSA.
Editor’s Note: It stands to reason that if race officials do not make your car into a winner with BoP adjustments, what value is there for a manufacturer to spend millions of dollars only to see their brand tarnished on the race track? IMSA and WEC has to throw each manufacturer an ‘ocassional bone’ to justify their participation. Otherwise, they eventually pack up and leave. It’s called motorsports socialism.
Well, the official announcement said it has “paused” its involvement in the 2026 IMSA GTP season, but it follows Lamborghini pulling the Hypercar out of the World Endurance Championship late last year.
“The program was designed to ensure global visibility through the presence of a hybrid racing car in each of the two championships where this class is admitted,” said Lamborghini. “However, the conditions on which the program was based have significantly changed.
“As the project developed, resource demands – both in terms of budget and technical complexity – have grown beyond original projections,” it added.
BMW joined FIA WEC’s top-tier last year with a brace of BMW M Hybrid V8 prototypes, marking BMW M Motorsport’s return to the international pinnacle of the discipline for the first time in a quarter-of-a-century.
The marque reached the rostrum towards the end of its maiden campaign in the series in the 6 Hours of Fuji, on the way to clinching fifth position in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship.
In its sophomore season in 2025, BMW M Team WRT has been an even more competitive proposition, regularly racing up at the sharp end of the 18-strong field and matching its best result to-date with a second-place finish at Imola in April.
Buoyed by that momentum and the recent extension of the championship’s Hypercar regulations until the end of 2032 – guaranteeing commercial stability for the class and all of its participants – BMW has confirmed its commitment to both FIA WEC and North America’s IMSA series for the long haul.
“I’m very pleased that we will continue our successful Hypercar program long-term in FIA WEC and IMSA,” commented Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport.
“Over the past years, we’ve learned a great deal about our BMW M Hybrid V8, made significant progress and established ourselves among the front-runners. Accordingly, I look to the future with great anticipation and optimism, especially since the extended homologation period provides us with a high level of planning security.”