Earlier this week BMW Motorsport released teaser photos of its all-new GT3-spec racing variant of the company’s soon to be released new generation M4. This followed an initial shakedown run at its Dingolfing test facility in Germany in the hands of BMW’s DTM star driver Augusto Farfus last Saturday.
Farfus said that he was very impressed with the new car and excited to be heading to France’s Circuit of Miramas for a proper shakedown test. This is part of a comprehensive development program planned for the new GT3 car over the next few months. The car’s long development program is said to also include some selected races before the start of customer deliveries in late 2021. That’s in time for the 2022 motorsport season when new regulations come into force for GT3 category racing. Under existing rules the new M4 would not have been eligible for the category.
The M4 GT3 will use a new version of the S58 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-6 which is currently fitted to the X3 M and X4 M, and develops some 500bhp. However, it is expected that the new GT3 car’s engine will develop closer to 600 horses in its BOP homologated specification. Moreover, it should not suffer the problematic heat issue of BMW’s M6 and M8 GT3 V8-engined cars whose twin turbos sit in the valley of the V8.
BMW Motorsport has said that while there will not be a factory works team it will work closely with known customer teams wanting a competitive GT3 2022 new-generation factory-built race car.
“With our new GT3 project, we are emphasising the significance of BMW M Customer Racing,” Jens Marquardt, BMW’s motorsport chief, said in a statement. “With the introduction of the new GT3 regulations for 2022, the BMW M4 is the perfect base.”