Kevin Magnussen on pole for his first outing with BMW
The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, which Kevin Magnussen will drive in his debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona, will start from pole position for this American endurance classic.
After losing his seat with Haas in Formula 1, Kevin Magnussen signed with BMW to become one of the official drivers for the German brand for the 2025 season.
Focusing mainly on the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with WRT, Kevin Magnussen will also participate in the three major endurance races of the IMSA SportsCar championship, starting this weekend with the 24 Hours of Daytona. The team had also released the video of the first test conducted by K-Mag at the helm of the Hypercar he will drive notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Read also: Kevin Magnussen retains a role at Haas in 2025
A first pole for Magnussen
The Roar is in the books ✔️ It’s been a great few days here at Daytona, preparing for the race and getting to know all the good people from @bmwmmotorsport and @RLLracing. Looking forward to next week 👊🇺🇸 #IMSA
📸 @jameypricephoto pic.twitter.com/uYyOgHkGTh
— Kevin Magnussen (@KevinMagnussen) January 19, 2025
The car #24, which Kevin Magnussen will share with Dries Vanthoor, Philipp Eng, and Raffaele Marciello (the latter joining Valentino Rossi in a BMW WRT at the 12 Hours of Bathurst), will start at the front in Daytona.
Dries Vanthoor was tasked with driving the car during the qualifying session for the pole in the GTP class, achieving a lap time of 1m33.895s.
« It was certainly not easy with the red flag », said Dries Vanthoor, referring to the session interruption caused by the BMW #25 at the beginning. « It complicates the tire warming process for everyone. »
« It was a big challenge for us last year, but we made a lot of progress. Then, it was simply about putting everything together for one lap and doing my best. Fortunately, it worked, so I am very happy. »
« We worked hard. It’s nice to see that it works for everyone here, as well as for those who stayed at the factory. I think everyone can be happy and proud of that, but [the pole position] is just a small cherry on a big cake. There’s still a big step to take: the race, and it can go in any direction. »
The 2025 24 Hours of Daytona will start on Saturday, an opportunity to see the debut of the former Formula 1 driver.
K-Mag’s first laps as BMW M works driver. #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/mqGbMLrjBX
— BMW M Motorsport (@BMWMotorsport) January 19, 2025
