WEC manufacturers - a rich history in endurance racing: BMW
For the sixth and final edition in our series on the endurance racing history of our manufacturer partners, we look at the WEC's newest GTE entrant, BMW.
Despite being the latest addition to the FIA World Endurance Championship grid, BMW has a sportscar racing history to rival virtually any other marque, its first-ever entry in the Le Mans 24 Hours going all the way back to 1939.
That year, the streamlined 328 scored a commendable fifth-place finish overall and victory in the two-litre class, but it would turn out to be more than 30 years until the Bavarian marque returned to La Sarthe.
A pair of works 3.0 CSLs were entered for the 1973 race, and three years later the 3.5 CSL made its Le Mans debut after a successful season in IMSA – giving Porsche a strong challenge in the World Championship for Makes classification.
In 1979, the iconic M1 raced at Le Mans for the first time, but the sixth place it scored that year would be the car’s best result in the French classic in three attempts.
It wouldn’t be until the mid-1990s that BMW returned to Le Mans, initially as an engine supplier to the McLaren F1 GTR. An unexpected outright win in 1995 for the mid-engined supercar convinced BMW to run works cars in 1996 and 1997, but there was to be no repeat of that success despite a ‘Longtail’ version of the car being built.
With the competitiveness of the F1 GTR waning, BMW opted to build a prototype, producing the V12 LM in conjunction with future Formula 1 partners Williams for 1998. This was succeeded by the V12 LMR in 1999, which overcame stiff opposition from the likes of Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan and Audi to take BMW’s only overall Le Mans victory.
BMW withdrew from Le Mans for 2000 as its Williams F1 alliance began in earnest, although the V12 LMRs continued to race for a final season in the American Le Mans Series.
When the German manufacturer next returned to Le Mans, it would be in the GT class with the M3 GT2, which made two appearances in 2010 and 2011. The car scored GTE Pro class pole in 2011, but could manage no better than third in the race.
After several years of focusing on its efforts with the Z4 GTE and the M6 GTLM in the USA, BMW developed an all-new car, the M8 GTE, to take on the WEC – joining Ferrari, Ford, Aston Martin and Porsche in the GTE Pro class of the 2018/19 Super Season.
