FIA WEC: Kevin Magnussen scores championship points in Barcelona

The Danish BMW factory driver and his BMW M Team WRT teammates made a strong recovery during a challenging round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. A seventh-place finish in Barcelona moves Magnussen up to a provisional third place in the Drivers' World Championship standings.

Kevin Magnussen and BMW M Team WRT secured valuable championship points on Sunday as the seventh and penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship took place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Following a difficult qualifying session, the Dane and his teammates Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello fought their way from 16th on the grid to finish seventh in the six-hour race.

Conditions at the Spanish Formula 1 circuit changed significantly throughout the weekend. After dry weather and warm summer temperatures during practice and qualifying, race day brought cooler winds and heavy rain, making the opening stages particularly challenging.

Magnussen was given the task of starting the race and managed to navigate the chaos. A competing Hypercar spun in the very first corner and came to a halt sideways across the track, while two safety car periods were required within the opening half-hour following incidents in the slippery conditions.

As the track gradually dried, the race settled down and Magnussen steadily worked his way through the field. After two stints, he handed the team's BMW M Hybrid V8 over to Vanthoor, who continued the progress. By the halfway point, the trio had gained ten positions, and when Vanthoor later handed the wheel to Marciello, the car had moved all the way up to fifth place. However, following a final pit stop, the Swiss driver had to settle for seventh.

"I think we got the most out of a pretty challenging weekend. After the change in weather and the heavy rain, we knew the start could be chaotic, but we managed to stay out of trouble, worked our way well through the field and were running in the top five at one point. We didn't have the pace to match the fastest cars – Ferrari and especially Toyota were pretty dominant – but we stayed out of trouble, worked efficiently in the pits and got through the race without any major issues. Unfortunately, the final round of pit stops didn't work in our favour, but seventh place still gives us some good championship points. Now we're looking ahead to the finale, where hopefully we can finish the season on a high," says Kevin Magnussen.

While Toyota secured the Manufacturers' World Championship in Barcelona, the Drivers' title remains undecided. With Sunday's result, Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello move up to a provisional third place in the standings ahead of the season finale.

The eighth and final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship takes place at Monza Circuit in Italy on 8 November.