BMW Motorsport has announced that its long-time partner BMW Team Schnitzer will take a key role in developing the new M4 GT3 customer race car, and that it will contest the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring as well as the Nürburgring Endurance Series (now NLS, formerly VLN) in 2020 in the M6 GT3. The team will not return to the Intercontinental GT Challenge series for the 2020 season.
The 2020 Nürburgring Endurance Series begins on March 21, and the 24-hour race will be run on May 23–24.
As reported by BimmerLife in December, the new M4 GT3 is slated to become BMW’s premier customer race car in the 2022 season, replacing the M6 GT3. On-track development testing will begin in 2020.
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt says, “We are delighted to be able to build on BMW Team Schnitzer’s experience in the upcoming racetrack development and testing of our new flagship GT car, the BMW M4 GT3. As part of the project, the team will oversee the test drives with the new race car and will provide valuable feedback for the further development steps. At the same time, BMW Team Schnitzer will be in racing action in their “home from home” at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. We are confident that the team will enjoy success there with the BMW M6 GT3.”
BMW has not yet officially confirmed that it will compete in IGTC in 2020, where Team Schnitzer and Walkenhorst Motorsport ran the M6 GT3 in 2019. BMW’s best performance was second overall for Walkenhorst in the season finale, the 9 Hours of Kyalami in South Africa in November. A return to the series, which begins on January 31 through February 2 with the 12 Hours of Bathurst in Australia, is very likely, as noted by Sportcar365.com.—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]