Philipp Eng headed a BMW RLL 1-2 finish at the checkered flag following a hectic 180-minute IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix sprint at Road America.

The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 duo of Eng and Dries Vanthoor secured victory after 66 laps of hectic, action-packed racing at America’s National Park of Speed.

It was Eng’s second time leading a 1-2 race finish for the Bavarian manufacturer in the GTP category, since doing so in last year’s six-hour Indianapolis enduro.

BMW RLL executed masterful timing in pitting both cars as the race headed into the final hour, soon before the fifth full-course-yellow caution period went out.

From then on, they turned a flawless performance into triumph with the pole-sitting #93 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06 of Renger van der Zande chasing down the #24 and #25 BMWs towards the end.

The #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R duo of Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken secured fourth place, followed by the highest-placed Porsche Penske 963, the #6, of Mathieu Jaminet and his team-mate Matt Campbell.

Heart of Racing claimed a worthy sixth position, their best race finish, in the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, driven by Ross Gunn and Romain De Angelis.

Tom Blomqvist took seventh for the #60 Meyer Shank Acura team with his co-driver, Colin Braun, after a drive-through penalty for running over equipment during the first pit stop phase halted their chances of a strong result, despite evidently being one of the fastest cars in the field.

Ricky Taylor and his #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac team-mate Filipe Albuquerque claimed eighth after an incident with another GTP car sent them off-course but not out, followed by the other #40 Wayne Taylor Cadillac of Louis Deletraz and his team-mate Jordan Taylor rounding out the top 10 GTP finishers.

Yelloly heads the field at the start

At the race start, Nick Yelloly asserted strong form in the #93 Acura — as he did numerous times during his time behind the wheel — to retain the lead ahead of both BMWs behind him.

After only two minutes of green flag racing, race control brought out the first caution.

Daniel Goldburg of the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07 LMP2 made contact with George Kurtz’s #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca before spinning around as the rear-left corner hit the tyre barrier. Remarkably, they did return to the race much later on after a lengthy recovery and repair job, with 45 minutes left of the race.

With the racing incident cleared, the race resumed with 2 hours and 26 minutes left on the clock.

Yelloly continued his run with a strong restart and consistently established a subtle lead gap, only for two minutes to pass before the second caution; Brendon Iribe of the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (GTD class) went off at Turn 7 on his own after taking slightly too much curb.

As the race resumed, Yelloly repeated his effort to keep the lead, although it was #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac driver Albuquerque who got himself fighting for the podium places.

Naveen Rao of the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca triggered the third caution just before the end of the opening hour after a heavy impact after going wide at Turn 10.

After all GTPs pitted, the #93 Acura fell back in the busy pit stop cycle as the #6 of Matt Campbell led the pack of GTPs with Bamber behind him, as well as the #10 driven by Ricky Taylor.

BMW RLL make their race-winning call

The Road America sprint headed into the final hour, and BMW made their strategic call to bring both cars in for their final stops with 59 minutes remaining, clearly anticipating the race’s fifth caution period.

Back to the track action, #7 Porsche driver Nick Tandy passed R. Taylor’s #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac at Turn 3 for fourth place. Furthermore, their battle continued when Tandy defended across at the Turn 5 corner exit, but made contact, which spun the #10 up the hill.

Fifty-three minutes remained for this caution drew all GTPs into the pits, apart from the BMWs, who pitted earlier, therefore inheriting the lead at the restart.

Unexpectedly, Tandy jumped the #6 Porsche of Campbell after their respective pit stops, although Tandy was awarded a stop-and-60-second penalty for earlier incident responsibility with the #10 Cadillac.

As Eng and Wittmann headed the BMW 1-2 formation on the restart, the attention sprang on van der Zande’s #93 Meyer Shank Acura, which dodged and weaved passed the two Porsche Penskes before reeling in Wittmann’s #25 BMW.

AO Racing wins from pole in LMP2

In the LMP2 category, AO Racing’s #99 ‘Spike the Dragon’ Oreca 07 pairing of PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron secured victory from pole position.

Inter Europol Competition, starting 10th on the grid, claimed second place in the hands of Connor de Phillippi and Jeremy Clarke ahead of the #11 TDS Racing Oreca of Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen.

Ben Hanley finished in fourth position in the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca with his co-driver Phil Fayer, as Era Motorsport finished their #18 Oreca in fifth.

Kaku Ohta, teamed with Tobias Lutke, fought within the top three and four positions until he went wide into Turn 5 towards the end.

Malthe Jakobsen brought the #04 Crowdstrike Oreca in sixth with his team-mate George Kurtz, followed by Sebastien Bourdais’/John Farano’s #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca and the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsport Oreca duo of Pietro Fittipaldi and Chris Cumming.

Scott Andrews and Gerry Kraut finished ninth in the #79 JDC Miller MotorSports Oreca ahead of the 10th-placed pairing of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson, and their #74 Riley Oreca.

See here for the full results – Stay tuned for the in-depth GTD Pro / GTD race report

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BMW has affirmed its commitment to its Hypercar future in the FIA WEC and IMSA championships, whilst confirming its imminent split with RLL.

BMW M Motorsport will continue in the premier Hypercar era and conclude a 17-year partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing at the end of the current 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season.

Whilst they work with Team WRT in the FIA World Endurance Championship, this news marks the end of a historic racing relationship, scoring 24 victories and over 100 podium finishes with RLL.

Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, said: “I am very pleased that we will continue our successful Hypercar programme long-term in both the FIA WEC and the IMSA series.

“As part of our future planning, we have decided to pursue our goals with a revised setup and not extend the contract with BMW M Team RLL for race operations in the IMSA series.

“I want to thank Bobby Rahal and his team for 17 fantastic years.”

BMW and RLL have partnered with one another for 14 years of GT racing and three years in the Hypercar era, when the formula replaced IMSA’s previous DPi class, succeeded by the GTP category.

This includes iconic machinery such as the BMW M3 GT, BMW Z4 GTLM, BMW M6 GTLM, BMW M8 GTE, and BMW M4 GT3.

Rahal called the rumoured speculation of a potential partnership conclusion “premature” earlier in the IMSA season, where recent wins have been difficult to come by since they stepped up to GTP with their two BMW M Hybrid V8s.

During the maiden 2023 season, they took five podium finishes, including a victory at the Six Hours of the Glen, followed up in 2024 by a highlight first 1-2 finish in Indianapolis, and four consecutive pole positions so far in 2025.

READ MORE – 49 entries set for Road America SportsCar Grand Prix

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is making a concerted effort to move forward in the IndyCar’s pecking order, and has found old performance strategies that needed to be revised.

The team has seen hints of strong performances this season, especially during qualifying where it has placed multiple drivers in the Firestone Fast Six on two separate occasions this year.

The team’s veteran driver Graham Rahal pinned a lot of this year’s improvements on the onboarding of Team President Jay Frye, who joined after working as IndyCar’s president for multiple years.

Rahal explained that the fresh engineering mindset is doing a lot of work to redirect the team’s efforts in a more fruitful direction.

“We see all the negatives and so on, but the team has made huge strides this year,” said Rahal. “The downside obviously has been the performance on the ovals for sure.

“Having said all of that, […] we’re finally getting some stability in the engineering corps that’s going to help us a lot.

“We’ve had a lot of turnover the last four years. We’ve had a lot of changes. We’ve had a lot of different methodologies come through.

“We’ve had, honestly, to unwind a lot of the things that we did over the last two years and backtrack on them, even with shocks and dampers and aerodynamics and a lot of things.

“Unfortunately when you’re in this position, your test days are the race weekends. I mean, it’s just the fact.

“For us, we’re trying our best to figure out what is going on and why the ovals have been a bit of a struggle, but I think there’s some big questions. Lots going on, but I do think Dad [Bobby Rahal] is correct that we’ve made a lot of strides. We’re in a much better position.”

Sunday pace still needed

The team’s three full time drivers have only one single top 10 finish throughout the first half of the 2025 season, placing them well down in the points standings.

Recent performances in qualifying and portions of the race have shown improvement, including a breakout pole for rookie Louis Foster in Road America. But Sunday’s results are still not on the level of 10 years ago when Rahal scored six podiums and finished fifth in the championship.

The recent efforts by the team continue to provide encouragement for the entire crew, and have led to increased interest from others in the paddock.

“I think RLL is an attractive place for people,” continued Rahal. “There’s certainly employees and people that are interested in coming — engineers, in coming to work with us that maybe weren’t over the last few years.

“Definitely a better environment, and hopefully we can continue to move that forward with Jay [Frye] and Dad and Mike [Lanigan] and the entire organization. I think there’s a lot of reasons to be positive.

“We need to execute, me and the team, at a higher level, and if we do that, there’s no doubt that we can take the fight to these other guys. And I think we can do it. We’ve just got to continue to work and get better.”

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rookie Louis Foster will sport a new look for the remainder of the 2025 IndyCar season.

The team has forged a new partnership with Droplight, a venture studio that will lend its marketing expertise to the three-car outfit.

Instead of the black and red Mi-Jack livery that has been on the car all season except for the Indianapolis 500, the #45 will now feature a bright green primary color.

The green fades to black at the front and rear of the car, and even the number on the rear wing is outlined in fluorescent green.

The specific color on display is part of the identity of Droplight, which hopes to expand its visibility by expanding into the world of motorsports.

“We’re excited to welcome Droplight into the RLL family,” said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“Their team brings a rare combination of energy, vision, and execution that aligns perfectly with where we want to take this program. This isn’t just a sponsorship—it’s a platform for growth.”

Foster’s new livery will be the most visible sign of the new partnership, but Droplight will help the team in other ways as well.

The two will work together to grow their marketing and social media strategies, helping drive engagement for other sponsors that associate with RLL.

The new livery will be present for the remainder of the season, which continues this weekend with the first short oval race of 2025.

World Wide Technology Raceway will host a 260-lap event this Sunday evening after a late schedule change pushed the race later in the day to take advantage of the track’s artificial lighting.

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Friday afternoon on the Indianapolis road course was reserved for an exciting NTT IndyCar Series qualifying session.

27 drivers started out with a chance at taking pole, but the field was whittled down to six drivers before the most important laps of the day were turned.

It was very nearly three Team Penske drivers against three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers in the final push for pole, if not for Alex Palou who inserted himself at the top and pushed out Will Power.

READ MORE: IndyCar IMS GP – Full Qualifying Results

Palou then went on to do what nearly everyone expects by this point: he took pole and did so by over four tenths of a second.

The Spaniard might as well have been on a rocket ship as he utilized fresh alternate tires to his advantage and positively blew everyone else out of the water.

The achievements of the rest of Fast Six are not without merit, especially those of RLL. For the first time in the team’s history all three drivers advanced to the final round of qualifying.

Graham Rahal earned the outside front row, while the team’s rookie Louis Foster crossed the line a hair slower to earn third on the grid.

Foster has had a rough start to the season so far, especially considering that he nearly dominated the field in his IndyNXT championship win last season.

This weekend gives him his best chance yet to show what he can do in top level machinery.

Scott McLaughlin wedged himself in between a couple RLL drivers to earn the fourth starting position, with Devlin DeFrancesco and Josef Newgarden filling the third row.

Power, who missed the cut by just 0.0199 seconds, had to settle for a seventh place grid position and will start alongside Pato O’Ward.

Big names in the back

Andretti Global had a frustrating qualifying afternoon, with all three drivers failing to advance out of the first round.

Colton Herta was highest of the trio and earned the 13th starting spot, with Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood starting 20th and 21st respectively.

Another driver that failed to continue his momentum was Christian Lundgaard. The Dane is coming off a stretch of three podiums, but was only able to qualify in 14th this weekend.

The newest member of Arrow McLaren climbed through the field last week in Barber, and will have to do so this weekend if he is to keep fighting at the top of the points standings.

Scott Dixon also found himself knocked out early, and the veteran was only able to muster a 16th place grid position despite his car feeling stable underneath him.

The slowest driver was perhaps not a surprise, as PREMA rookie Robert Shwartzman brought up the rear on Saturday afternoon.

Shwartzman had virtually no practice this weekend due to mechanical issues and had to rely entirely on his racing intuition.

Now that the grid is set, drivers will look over data with their teams and make a plan of attack for Saturday’s race. The green flag flies at 4:30 PM eastern time.

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Bobby Rahal has called the speculation about RLL’s future relationship with BMW in IMSA’s premier GTP category ‘premature’ ahead of Round 4.

The BMW Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) team principal commented about ongoing speculation about their future with BMW.

When asked in a press conference ahead of the Course de Monterey at Laguna Seca, he said:

“I don’t want to get into the specifics of that, but, you know, we’re obviously hoping to continue this long relationship that we’ve had with BMW, that dates back to 2008.

“I know there’s been some, you know, you see some of these articles and a lot of guessing and a lot of speculation.

“But I think for us, there’s three quarters of the season left over and I can tell you, I think with BMW Motorsports, everybody’s just really focused on this coming race at Laguna Seca, and the race after that, and after that, and after that – there’s a lot of racing left.

“And so I think it’s premature to get too far into that… having a podium this past week [at Long Beach], regardless of how disappointing it was to be on the front row and then lose out during pit stops, having a podium is a nice start.

“That’s a good little bump for the team, especially after the disappointments of Sebring and Daytona.”

BMW RLL has taken all three pole positions so far this season, but has been unable to convert them into wins, as Porsche Penske claimed all three GTP race victories.

The 160-minute sprint race on 11 May will provide a fourth opportunity, once again, for BMW RLL to qualify at the front and convert it into their second win, after last year at Indianapolis.

READ MORE: Laguna Seca set for 36 entries at thrilling IMSA sprint round

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced on Tuesday that Jay Frye has joined the team as president.

Frye had worked directly with IndyCar for the past 12 years, most recently serving as IndyCar President. He spearheaded multiple safety innovations and implemented a rolling five year plan for the series.

He left that role ahead of the 2025 season, allowing Doug Boles to take over his duties while still serving as president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

RLL’s announcement on Tuesday answers the question of what Frye’s next chapter would be.

He takes over as team president for RLL and the team has also confirmed that it has parted ways with Steve Eriksen, who was the team’s chief operating officer.

“First, I would like to thank Steve Eriksen for all of the work he did for us, particularly at a critical moment in time for the company and we certainly wish him the best in his next endeavor,” said Bobby Rahal, RLL co-owner.

“I’m very pleased to have Jay Frye join the team as president of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. I’ve known him since his arrival on the IndyCar scene in 2013 and have spent a lot of time with him and think highly of his character and his passion for the sport.

“I look forward to working with him in the future to take RLL to the place we all want it to be.”

IndyCar and IMSA duties

Frye will oversee RLL’s involvement in both the NTT IndyCar Series and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He will report directly to the team’s ownership group.

Frye’s new duties begin immediately, with the first race on the team’s schedule being the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which will take place during the April 11-13 weekend.

“Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has a tremendous history of success, both on and off the track,” said Frye.

“I am very proud to be joining the dedicated and talented team of people at RLL. RLL has the foundation, infrastructure and an incredible commitment to continue being successful well into the future.”

The post Ex-IndyCar President Jay Frye joins RLL as team president appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Devlin DeFrancesco’s livery for the upcoming Indianapolis 500 will be decided by an online vote.

The 25-year-old driver will have primary sponsorship from Dogecoin for the event, with the cryptocurrency group dictating the look for the #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda this year.

DeFrancesco has been a supporter of Dogecoin for multiple seasons, but this is the first time it will serve as a major sponsor for him in the Indy 500.

“Super excited to have Dogecoin with me for the Indy 500!!” said DeFrancesco on social media. “My journey with Dogecoin started in 2020!! Excited to see what the future holds!

“I first invested in Dogecoin in 2020 and drove everyone crazy, telling anyone who would listen that they needed to own it. It’s not only my favorite crypto, but the plan to become a global currency and drive payment adoption is awesome.

“I’m pumped to be part of the community and an ambassador for the vision.”

There are three livery choices available for fans to choose from. Each has a brightly colored theme, and has the sponsor’s Shiba Inu mascot located in multiple locations across the car.

“Blaze” is the title of the first option, with yellow, orange, pink, and purple cascading down the car with blended transitions.

The second option features light purple and light blue, reminiscent of 1980’s styling. The “Turbowave” option has hard lines between the two colors in a more traditional layout.

The third option, titled “BananaBoost,” is similar to the second option but features bright yellow instead of purple and is paired with light blue.

Fans looking to vote on the designs will need to navigate to the dedicated indycar.dogecoin.com website and choose their favorite.

Results will be announced next week on March 26, giving the team enough time to properly prepare the car design ahead of Indy 500 running.

Open testing for the Indy 500 takes place on April 23-24, and the race itself takes place the following month on May 25.

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has announced that Takuma Sato will attempt to qualify for this year’s Indianapolis 500 in the team’s #75 entry.

Sato has contested every Indy 500 since 2010, including the past couple seasons as he has wound down his full time IndyCar career.

He continues to race in the biggest event on the calendar, and will do so again this year in an attempt to qualify for his 16th race.

“I’m very excited to return to the 109th Indy 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” said Sato.

“Once again, a heartfelt thank you to Bobby [Rahal], Mike [Lanigan], David [Letterman], and the entire organization for this incredible opportunity. I’m also deeply grateful for the continued support from AMADA as the primary sponsor, alongside Panasonic Automotive Systems, Niterra, Deloitte Tohmatsu, NAC, Honda, HRC, and all our loyal sponsors.

“The new #75 car carries over RLL’s historic design with a refreshed and dynamic new livery – it looks absolutely stunning.

“Last year was an incredible experience, reconnecting with the team, and this year, even more familiar faces have joined the effort, which makes this moment even more special and gives me great confidence. I can’t wait to get to work.”

Sato has won the Indy 500 twice, once with Andretti Autosport in 2017 and a second time in 2020 while driving for RLL.

This year will be the seventh time the veteran Japanese driver has raced the famous race with RLL and the odds of him picking up a third win look good, but for the latest odds, fans should look on sport betting VulkanSpiele for great deals.

The 48-year-old will have backing from Amada America, and his car will look similar to last year’s livery which he took to a 14th place result.

Sato’s entry makes for 34 confirmed entries for this year’s Indy 500, which means that qualifying bumping will take place once again.

The added drama brings an extra level of entertainment to qualifying weekend, during which one driver will be sent home without having a chance to start the race.

The 109th Indianapolis 500 takes place on May 25, with television coverage being provided by FOX.

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced on Monday that Devlin DeFrancesco will drive the team’s #30 entry for the 2025 NTT IndyCar season.

DeFrancesco has made 34 IndyCar starts in his career, completing two seasons with Andretti Autosport in 2022 and 2023.

During that time, he failed to break into the top 10 of the results tables and logged a best finish of 12th at World Wide Technology Raceway.

DeFrancesco spent the past year running select IMSA races with Forte Racing’s GTD effort, but now makes his return to IndyCar with the new RLL deal.

“I’m very excited to be back in the IndyCar Series,” said DeFrancesco. “Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has an amazing history and is also on an impressive trajectory.

“Seeing all the work that is going on from the men and women behind the scenes, it is easy to see that this team and myself are very hungry for results. I look forward to getting started with all the great people here.”

DeFrancesco, a Canadian driver born just after the turn of the century, has an extensive driving history and has competed in many different series.

His biggest accomplishment to date is arguably an LMP2 class victory at the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona, which he won while sharing a car with Eric Lux, Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta.

The 24-year-old’s new agreement sees him back in IndyCar with a multi-year contract, starting with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 2, 2025.

“I’m very pleased that we are able to welcome Devlin to the team,” said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“We had the chance to witness his ability while he was at Andretti and there were clearly times when he was quite competitive so I’m confident that we can have a lot of good races together. We’re looking forward to his contribution to the team.”

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