Imola Recap: Forget Ferrari and BOP, BMW Are Finally Showing That They Belong

The 6 Hours of Imola was a slow burn for the first four hours of action with not much doing between the cars on track as the triple-headed Ferrari 499P pack went about their business. 

A lot of the conversation, chatter and comments left on message boards leading into the race and through the weekend surrounded the favorable BOP ratings that Ferrari had managed to secure coming out of the opening round at Qatar, leading many to chalk things up to the perceived usual favoritism by the FIA towards the Italian brand and a thrown away weekend for the rest of the competitors on track. 

Through practice and qualifying, and then through the first four hours of the race, that all certainly seemed the case as the Nos. 51 and 50, as well as the No. 83 customer entry 499P, were all in command for much of the affair and running near the front of the pack. Yet the race took a sharp turn after Valentino Rossi opted to punt the No. 21 Ferrari (ironic) into the final turn barriers which brought about a VSC, throwing the last two hours of action into the blender, much to the benefit of the fans.

Although the No. 51 ultimately won out, the win wasn't as dominating or automatic as the final timing sheets or the hard-to-recap-six-hours-of-action recap could show. Things got extraordinarily close after the shuffling of the Hypercar field reset itself through the safety car procedure and just about every team chose to abandon conventional strategy plans in an attempt to gain track position at a track that is notoriously difficult to pass on.

One of the teams that absolutely nailed the last two hours of the race were BMW Team WRT. The No. 15 driven by Sheldon van der Linde almost caught the #51 at the front of the field, shaving nearly eight seconds off Ferrari's 15 second lead once they completed their final pit stop with just minutes left on the clock. A few spots behind in P6, the No. 20 BMW driven by Dries Vanthoor managed to get ahead of the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing and maximized their points finish as best they could.

Yes, the two factory Ferrari's have split the opening rounds to go along with the podium sweep at Qatar, and unless the FIA and WEC truly want some pissed off fans and teams on their hands expect a Balance adjustment to go against them leading into Spa on May 10. Putting the politics aside of how BOP shakes out in the short term for now, BMW and Team WRT have earned their results in the first two races in 2025, and they deserve a load of credit for raising their game and competing at the front of the pack in terms of qualifying ability, race pace and securing tangible results in a very deep Hypercar field.

The launch of the M Hybrid V8 was shaky to beyond shaky in North America through two seasons in IMSA, and the car's WEC debut last year didn't produce much for tangible results and at times was downright horrific, especially for the No. 20 It wasn't until a P2 finish at Fuji was secured by the No. 15 that the German marquee could celebrate some sort of success in the campaign, yet if we look closer to what transpired in Japan we'll remember that six Hypercar's were knocked out via DNFs, including the trio of championship contenders in the No. 50 Ferrari, No. 5 Porsche Penske and the No. 7 TGR. It cleared the runway for other teams to climb up and secure sharper results when they maybe didn't have the means originally to make it happen. And funny enough, it was BMW in P2 and the No. 36 Alpine in P3 at Fuji, as the No. 36 repeated the effort at Imola - and those guys certainly fall into the same category in terms of earning their result rather than backing into it. 

In the Manufacturers' standings, BMW currently sit in second with 63 points against Ferrari's 93, meanwhile the two BMWs are sitting P4 and P5 in the Drivers' battle, and although it seems like the world is over and Ferrari have already won things up and down, other teams are still very much in the fight and by no means is either of the championship battles over as we come out of Round 2 and lead into Spa. The offseason rewrapping of their driver lineup has paid early dividends in both the WEC and IMSA, and at the current rate overall race wins are surely right around the corner. The car itself is also proving to be competitive across hours and hours of racing; you'll remember the handful of retirements and put-behind-the-wall electrical issues that sprouted as issues for the team in 2024.

It's a quick turnaround with Round 3 taking place just three weekends from now, and we'll all be waiting to see how the FIA manage Ferrari's weight and energy outputs following these opening rounds of play. And regardless of how you feel about BOP and the politicking that comes with it, at the end of the day these drivers, teams and cars have to go out onto the track and earn their results. As much as we like to boil it down to an advantageous weight and energy advantage, the race game will always award those that put themselves in a position to capitalize on the situation before them. The #50 Ferrari is a perfect example that even with the most amazing BOP advantage under the sun possible, Antonio Fuoco still decided to throw his mind out the window when he clashed with Sebastian Buemi going into Turn 1, which resulted in a popped rear left tire and the end of their day in trying to fight for a victory. 

BMW and Team WRT have improved their game, and you of course have the always pesky TGR hanging around as well. But in again taking BOP out of the equation, the HTJ Cadillac's haven't done anything to show that they've got their affairs in order after their shunt in Qatar and an inability to find stable footing at Imola. You're saying it's *just* the weight of the car? Meanwhile Peugeot are dealing with their usual cycle of showcasing decent pace for spurts at a time but then falling behind on the timing sheet when things start to get real. Aston Martin and the Valkyrie are strictly on a development trip through 2025 so they're dealing with a separate set of expectations. Alpine secured an awesome P3 and after their non-points finish in Qatar they'll happily take the points from Imola. 

Porsche Penske Motorsport can have a gripe for how their season has begun in terms of treatment by the powers that be, but you know if they had any sort of overt advantage on the BOP ratings the same fans would be howling just as they are with the Ferrari's.

Final point in closing - BMW have shown that they can get their house in order to compete. It's up to the other teams on the grid to do the same. 

Photo via - https://www.bmw-sg.com/bmw-motorsports/bmw-m-motorsport-team-wrt-shines-with-double-podium-at-imola/2025/04/21/