The M4 GT3, BMW’s new customer race car, is undergoing extensive testing in advance of a race debut planned for June.
Factory racers Martin Tomczyk, Jens Klingmann, and Nick Yelloly piloted the car in endurance runs and race simulations on the Almeria circuit in Spain in late March. The team also focused on testing various brands of tires. In addition to the three drivers running the car in Spain, works drivers Augusto Farfus, Marco Wittmann, Bruno Spengler, Sheldon van der Linde, and Jesse Krohn have tested the car.
BMW Team RMG is running the on-track sessions, working closely with BMW Motorsport and BMW M. The new car has been tested in the wind tunnel and on various test benches. Comparison of the car to the M6 GT3, the top-of-the-line customer race car that it will replace in 2022, has been an important focus of the testing. BMW says that, compared to its predecessor, the new car is “already showing considerable improvements in crucial areas at this stage of development, namely the reduction of lifecycle costs and maintenance effort, as well as drivability for professional and amateur racing drivers, both in dry conditions and in the rain.” In addition, BMW M Motorsport engineers have made a breakthrough that makes it possible to change most electronic settings via the multifunction steering wheel, reducing the need to connect the car to a laptop.
While the new car will be sold to customers in the fall for racing in 2022, it will be race-tested in 2021. BMW’s Mike Krack told Sportscar365 that the first race would be the June 26 NLS race at the Nürburgring, with a GT World Challenge Europe race later in the year also likely. The story appears here.—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]
