50 Years Of BMW M Performance Celebration 60th Rolex 24 At Daytona
BMW North America are to celebrate 50 years of M performance at the 60th running of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona raceway.
BMWs M division was conceived by Bob Lutz when he served on the board of BMW as VP of Global Sales and Marketing. He hired Jochen Neerpasch as the first BMW Motorsport Director of BMW Motorsport GmbH, who then began to formally represent BMW in motor sports starting in May 1972.
Some 5 decades later the M division has been going from strength to strength, shortening the name to BMW M GmBh.
For the 50th anniversary BMW will be hosting even more events and displays than usual at the classic race. The long running sponsorship of the BMW M Endurance Challenge IMSA Michelin Pilot Race, BMW North America are bringing a collection of BMW M road cars to take part in pre-race ceremonies and parade laps.
The first is a BMW M1 from 1980, the first car to ever wear an M badge, the newest will be an electric i4 M50.
Of course, there will be BMW’s racing, but there will be some more on static display. The new BMW M Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 is joined by three past IMSA-winning BMW’s. The 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL, the 2015 BMW Z4 GTLM and the 2019 Rolex 24 winning BMW M8 GTE. All will be on display in the Rolex 24Heritage Exhibition in the Daytona Fan Zone.
The 4 Hour Michelin Pilot Challenge is again sponsored by BMW M and there are a total of four M4 GT4 race cars taking part. Sixth generation M3 and M4 road cars will be used as pace cars.
“Naturally, we are very proud to have played a role in a good portion of the history of BMW Motorsport,” stated Bobby Rahal, BMW M Team RLL Team Principal. “For us, signing with BMW back in 2008 (for the 2009 season) was a huge honor as I’ve said many times – so for us to be part of this 50th anniversary of BMW M is really something special. I remember when the 3.0 CSL BMWs came to IMSA in 1975 and dominated everything they entered – so it has been very special for us to follow in the footsteps of that program. We are super excited about racing the new M4 GT3. Once again introducing a new race car to BMW fans like we have done with the M3, M6, M8 and Z4. We have been fortunate to have success with each of those cars which makes it exciting to embark on this new project and hopefully have more success with this great new chassis in 2022. It is also going to be a new challenge competing head-to-head with the privateer teams in the GTD Pro class. BMW M Motorsport has assembled another great driver lineup and our drivers will have to give us their best. There are a lot of good drivers in GTD and we’re looking forward to the competition.”
The racing starts with the BMW M Endurance Challenge at 19:35 CET on Friday 28th
January and the Rolex 24 starts at 19:40 CET on Saturday 29th January.
Both of the races will be broadcast on NBC channels.
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