BMW M factory drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts will participate in next weekend’s FIA WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain with the Bavarian marque.
The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe drivers’ champions, who also claimed Sprint Cup honours, will both get behind the wheel of the M Hybrid V8 for the first time.
It is set to be a maiden Hypercar outing for both drivers, who have predominantly raced in GT3 machinery in recent years. Alongside their GT World Challenge success, the duo are the last two Intercontinental GT Challenge champions, after van der Linde succeeded Weerts with an impressive 2025 campaign, which saw him win four out of five races.
Van der Linde is the only one of the pair to have raced a prototype in the past, having contested the final round of the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series with Phoenix Racing. Weerts’ most recent public prototype experience, meanwhile, was an outing in Team WRT’s ORECA 07 LMP2 at the 2023 Rookie Test.
The 2025 FIA WEC Rookie Test will be held at Bahrain International Circuit on the 9th November, the day following the FIA WEC season finale.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
