Kevin Magnussen bowed out of F1 for the second time as his stint with the Haas F1 team came to an end with the conclusion of the 2024 season. Now, while the Danish racing ace has a habit of making epic comebacks to the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport, this time it might just be the final farewell.
This realization has pushed the 32-year-old to take up a full-time racing role across the pond with the BMW HyperCar project. Magnussen will now race for the German automobile giants in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The former McLaren and Haas F1 driver’s first test will be at the storied 24 Hours of Daytona, and Magnussen is more than happy to follow his father, Jan’s footsteps into the world of Sports Car racing.
“I’m super happy. It’s a great opportunity for me to be part of a big manufacturer like BMW. They have very big ambitions in endurance racing in the new era of Sports Cars in the hypercar class,” explained the Dane while preparing for the race next weekend.
View this post on Instagram
Magnussen’s father, who is also a former F1 driver, used to take a young Kevin to the Daytona International Speedway when he often competed at Daytona. Jan won the 2015 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTLM class with Corvette.
Kevin reminisced about the same and having watched his father compete at Daytona, it will be a surreal experience for him to be now racing there.
A lack of interest in F1 led to Kevin Magnussen’s endurance racing career
Magnussen’s decision to shift racing disciplines wasn’t a mere coincidence as the 32-year-old had been planning to make such a shift for years. Further, his ties with BMW in the HyperCar class were on the cards for him even before his F1 exit.
“I knew I wasn’t super keen on continuing in Formula 1. I wasn’t really actively looking for another contract in Formula 1. So I’d already shifted my focus to other things. And I knew sports cars was where I want to be and specifically in LMDh,” he said as per Sportscar365.
His second stint with Haas did not turn out to be as fruitful as he would have hoped, thus accelerating his shift to Sports Car racing. With the BMW M Hybrid V8, Magnussen has the chance now to vie for the ultimate prize in the world of endurance racing.
He will be keen to repeat his father’s feat of winning Daytona. Moreover, the Dane would want to achieve more success in endurance racing — probably Le Mans as well — after struggling in the F1 midfield for years with just one podium to his name.
