BMW M Motorsport has announced that Belgian Maxime Martin will be a works driver in the 2023 season. Martin’s name may be familiar, as he was a BMW works driver from 2013 to 2017 before leaving to join Aston Martin.
Most notably for American racing fans, Martin competed with BMW Team RLL in the American Le Mans Series in 2013 in the Z4 GT3. He then raced for BMW in the DTM championship from 2014 to 2017, where he scored ten podiums and three race wins. He also won the Spa 24-Hour race in 2016 with ROWE Racing and co-drivers Alexander Sims and Philipp Eng in an M6 GT3. With Aston Martin, he won the LMGTE-Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020. Martin also competed in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the Heart of Racing Aston Martin team this past season.
Martin raced a Z4 GT3 for BMW Team RLL in 2013.
There has been no indication on what seat BMW M Motorsport plans to put Martin in, but for what it’s worth, Martin changed the cover photo on his Facebook page to an M4 GT3 after the announcement. Another potential connection is that Team WRT (who will be a works BMW team starting in 2023) is based in Belgium and will likely be racing the M4 GT3 in 2023 before starting an M V8 LMDh prototype program in 2024.
Martin is looking forward to being a BMW driver again after his time at Aston Martin. “I am definitely really excited about the new challenge and to come back to BMW after five years,” he said. “It will be great to see a lot of people I know again, a lot of people I have worked with. To be able to be there and work there again is amazing. I am looking forward to the future and the coming projects.” —David Haueter
[Photos by BMW and David Haueter]