Robin Frijns from WRT’s #20 crew arrives in Texas refreshed after the extended summer break between races, sitting level on points in the Hypercar Drivers’ World Championship with Toyota’s #7 crew, and with BMW challenging the Japanese marque for manufacturer honours.
Despite the gap between Interlagos and COTA, Frijns is confident that both BMWs can retain the momentum they have built this season. The German marque’s race pace and strategic nous have stood out this term, putting it in a strong position to fight for its first WEC titles come November.
Looking back on the season from the halfway point, the Dutch driver, who is fighting for the Drivers’ title with full-season teammate Rene Rast, points out how well both WRT’s crews have performed. When the #20 car may not have looked as strong, the #15 has succeeded, ensuring the brand has retained a two-pronged attack.
“Bit of a disappointment in Imola where we started off on the back foot, but then in the race we were very strong, and then at Spa exactly the same happened. Le Mans is always a bit different, but I think we had a really strong race there as well,” Frijns said.
“But in São Paolo, on our side of the garage, we were struggling the whole weekend, but the sister car did an amazing job and won their first race of this season as well. So hopefully, we can keep on going with momentum.
“Austin is a bit of a different track than all the others this year. It’s a high-speed, high-downforce track, and we’ll see how we get along. I hope that we are in the mix again.”
At this round last season, the #20 car retired with a Hybrid issue, completing only 13 laps of the race. So nobody’s getting carried away in the back of the garage about its chances on Sunday just yet.
“Top five, top six would be good. It’s important to always be up there, even when we have a difficult weekend. If we finish P5, okay, but if we have a good weekend we should be on the podium.”
Like BMW, its rival Toyota has yet to win a race at the Circuit of The Americas. With the Hypercar form book taking on a new look for 2026 though, few would bet against another strong weekend for this year’s championship protagonists.
“I saw the social post [Toyota] put out yesterday or this morning [reminding everyone] they hadn’t won in Austin yet. I think [BMW] is trying to keep it that way,” he quipped.
Looking further ahead, BMW has been preparing for the races in Europe that now feature at the end of the schedule. The Hypercar crew headed to Barcelona during the summer break for a newly scheduled test, following a schedule change due to the conflict in the Middle East. But for Frijns, it clashed with other commitments, meaning he was forced to sit it out.
Kevin Magnussen, in the sister car, was present for the Barcelona test. The Dane, who starred in the race at Interlagos back in July, looks forward to racing at the Spanish circuit, thanks to his extensive experience at the venue in both F1 and sportscars.
“It will be a lot colder than it usually is when we go there,” he told DSC. “But I’ve been there many times both early in the year and late in the year, with testing across all European motorsport using the circuit. So it will be fun!”
Image courtesy of DPPI
