After securing its 2018 IMSA partnership with BMW, BMW Team RLL makes a high profile hire. According to Racer, BMW Team RLL has hired former Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar race engineer Brandon Fry to become its new technical and racing operations director.
The American brings considerable experience after recent spells at CGR with Max Chilton, Nissan’s short-lived FIA WEC LMP1 program and as team manager/race engineer of Muscle Milk Racing’s championship-winning ALMS LMP1 program.
“I had a lot to think about because I certainly enjoyed working in IndyCar, just as I enjoyed working in sports cars, but the role Bobby and I discussed was very similar to what I did for Greg Pickett with his Muscle Milk team, and I really enjoyed that along with the success we had. I’m looking forward to much the same with BMW Team RLL,” Fry told RACER.
With multiple offers from IndyCar teams to serve as a race engineer, Fry says the biggest decision to make came with whether he was ready to step back from the timing stand and oversee the entire engineering group as it prepares to run brand-new BMW M8s next year.
“The GTLM class is always a huge fight among manufacturers, so that’s the first thing I knew I would enjoy being part of,” he added. “I enjoy being on the stand and working with the drivers, but the more I learned about this program, and knew I’d have greater responsibility over the engineering side like I did at Muscle Milk, it felt like the right direction to go.”
“It’s an awesome opportunity, and I’ve worked with teams in the past that had factory affiliation; Honda and HPD, and Nissan for a brief period where I got to see the resources and the potential of a big factory program,” he said. “And from what I’ve seen so far at BMW Team RLL, they’re very passionate and have an incredible history to live up to as we prepare for a new challenge together.”
