After a decade in Formula 1, Danish driver Kevin Magnussen (32 years old) is returning to endurance racing, joining the BMW team, which has yet to announce its program in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) or possibly in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA).
Having been edged out by Haas-Ferrari, the team he had been driving for since 2017 (1 pole position, 2 fastest laps, and 138 points scored in 142 Grand Prix), Kevin Magnussen had known for some time that his future lay outside of Formula 1, a discipline in which he felt he had been playing a supporting role for several seasons.
Haas and Kevin Magnussen Part Ways
After bidding farewell this past weekend in Abu Dhabi, the Dane will join BMW Motorsport to drive a Hybrid V8 hypercar, as announced by the German firm on Thursday morning. At 32 years old, he is already familiar with endurance racing, having driven a Cadillac for Chip Ganassi Racing in the American championship (IMSA) in 2021 (1 win, 5 podiums, 1 pole, 4 fastest laps in 10 GP) before returning to Haas – even though he thought he would stay in endurance racing with Peugeot.
This announcement does not specify Kevin Magnussen’s program with the team based on the Belgian WRT Team. He could return to IMSA or drive in the WEC, the World Championship, and thus make his comeback at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he competed in 2021 with his father Jan Magnussen and his compatriot Anders Fjordbach (29th overall, 17th in LMP2, with an Oreca 07-Gibson). The composition of the BMW teams will be announced at an undisclosed date.
