Farfus: Unexpected Qatar podium ‘felt like a win’
Augusto Farfus says BMW’s podium finish in the LMGT3 category of last month’s curtain-raising Qatar 1812km ‘felt like a win’, after the #31 The Bend Team WRT entry had to fight its way through the pack from down in 14th on the grid.
From its lowly starting slot in the 18-strong field, the BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO made swift progress during the ten-hour race around Lusail International Circuit – the opening round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
A strong strategy allied to rapid stints from Farfus, Yasser Shahin and Timur Boguslavskiy – the latter making his full-time debut in the series – hauled the Bavarian machine into serious contention, and with only half-an-hour remaining, the #31 car was at the top of the order, albeit requiring a late splash ‘n’ dash refuelling stop.
While that pit visit dropped Boguslavskiy to third, the two-time GT World Challenge Europe champion thereafter impressively held off Lexus and Ferrari factory drivers Ben Barnicoat and Alessio Rovera to clinch a well-deserved rostrum result by barely two tenths-of-a-second.
“Congratulations to Augusto, Timur and Yasser for their podium in the LMGT3 class,” commented Head of BMW M Motorsport, Andreas Roos. “Our new BMW M4 GT3 EVO has once again proved that it can be a guarantee for success. Thanks to everyone who worked hard over the winter to get us into this good starting position for the season.”
“Considering where we started and where we finished the race, nobody would have predicted or expected that!” added Farfus. “It shows what a great team we have behind us and what a strong driver line-up, as we executed it perfectly. Taking home a podium felt like a win, and gives us great hope that we can maintain this momentum.”
Indeed, the next round of the campaign – the 6 Hours of Imola – holds happy memories for BMW, after the brand claimed a milestone one-two finish in Italy last year, the #31 leading the #46 to the chequered flag.
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari is also home soil for Valentino Rossi, although the multiple motorcycling world champion together with team-mates Ahmad Al Harthy and Kelvin van der Linde endured a tough time of things in Qatar. The trio’s solid turn-of-speed was undone by a brace of penalties for track limits violations that restricted the Team WRT crew to 11th place, just one spot shy of the points-paying positions.
“It’s frustrating that we finished the race outside of the top ten,” rued recently-appointed BMW M works driver, van der Linde. “We have so much potential within the team and our driver line-up, but for some reason, we didn’t have the same pace as our sister car. The team will investigate this and we also need to put the penalties behind us. We need to deal with it, shake off the result and look forward.”
