In only its second season of competition, the M4 GT3 has proven to be a very effective weapon in GT3-spec racing around the world, and BMW teams had a lot of success with the car in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) and SRO GT World Challenge America Championship in 2023.
Between those two series, which consisted of 24 total races, the M4 GT3 scored 23 podium finishes, seven wins, and four pole positions. In the IWSC, M4 GT3 entries had eleven podium finishes in eleven races, including five wins and three poles. The Paul Miller Racing team with drivers Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, and Corey Lewis (who was a third driver in the four longer races) was the most successful among the BMW teams in both series, as they scored all five of the GTD class wins in IWSC with the #1 M4 GT3 (shown in top photo) along with all three pole positions. In the races they didn’t win, they had two other podium finishes and won the driver’s and team championships.
Turner Motorsport also had a successful season in IWSC, finishing in second place four times in the GTD class, including the grueling 12 Hours of Sebring as well as the ten-hour Petit Le Mans finale. Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher were the season long drivers in the #96 M4 GT3, with Michael Dinan joining them in the longer races. The #97 Turner car accounted for the podium finish at Laguna Seca with drivers Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull. Foley and Gallagher finished fourth in the driver’s championship, and the success of both the Paul Miller and Turner teams led to BMW winning the GTD class manufacturers championship.
In the SRO GT World Challenge America series, M4 GT3 entries from BimmerWorld Racing and ST Racing had twelve podiums in thirteen races, with a Pro class win for BimmerWorld at the NOLA circuit and one for ST Racing at Road America. Overall, BimmerWorld Racing with drivers Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull had seven podium finishes in the #94 M4 GT3, while ST Racing had five podium finishes in the Pro-Am class in the #38 M4 GT3. Turner Motorsport also competed in the VIR rounds in the Pro-Am class, where Robby Foley had the only pole position of the year in a BMW in that series. BMW finished third in the manufacturer’s championship behind Porsche and Mercedes (who both had more entries than BMW).
BMW M Motorsport is already working on an Evo package for the M4 GT3 for the 2025 season, which they say will make the car easier to maintain and service and reduce running costs, as well as improve the handling. Even before that update comes in 2025, we can expect the M4 GT3 to be fighting for victories in both U.S. series again in 2024, with the first race coming up at Daytona on January 27th-28th.
—David Haueter
[Photos by David Haueter]
