BMW announces Australian GT tilt

BMW Australia has announced its re-entry into Australian motorsport. The Mulgrave, Victoria-based organisation will contest the 2016 Australia GT Championship with the newly-developed BMW M6 GT3 in conjunction with Steve Richards Motorsport (SRM).

It’s almost 20 years since BMW fielded a factory-backed team Down Under. Richards junior is confirmed as the driver for the official BMW entry. His father, Jim, is one of the best known of BMW’s local factory drivers.

motoring.com.au believes the factory entry is one of up to four BMW M6 GT3s expected to contest the burgeoning GT series. SRM will manage the expanded program for BMW Australia.

“Steve Richards Motorsport will also manage on-track support and parts supply when further M6 GT3 vehicles join the program during 2016,” BMW’s official release states.

The “architect” of the program is BMW Australia CEO, Marc Werner. Werner is a keen motorsport aficionado and keen to use the GT program to reinforce BMW’s performance credentials. The re-entry into local motorsport will take place in the year of the brand’s 100th anniversary.

“We definitely have an exciting 2016 motorsport season ahead of us. For one thing, BMW will be 100 years old, and that obviously gives us extra motivation to present the brand with as much success as possible to mark its anniversary.

“Plus, after many months of intense [overseas] testing, we can’t wait to finally see the BMW M6 GT3s make their race debuts in Australia,” Werner stated.

“I am certain that we, our customers and the fans will have a lot of fun with these cars. With this in mind, I am particularly pleased to be able to welcome SRM into the BMW family, as a new team responsible for running the BMW M6 GT3 in Australia.”

The M6 GT3 is a BMW Motorsport-built turn-key racing car and replaces the relatively unsuccessful BMW Z4 GT3. Unveiled at last October’s Frankfurt motor show, the new car features a racing version of the M6 road car’s twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8.

Under GT rules the car’s performance is ‘balanced’ so it should be immediately competitive with current GT front-runners such as Ferrari 458 and Audi R8 LMS.

BMW claims the M6 GT3 has significantly lower running costs than its predecessor as well as “longer lifecycles for cost-intensive parts”.

BMW will contest a number of GT3-regulated championships around the globe with the new car. The list includes ADAC GT Masters (Germany), IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (USA), VLN Endurance Championship (Germany), Blancpain GT Series (Europe, various), Asian Le Mans Series, International GT Open (various) and Japanese Super GT Championship.

The familial link between the Richards name and BMW is not lost on Steven.

“We’re delighted to be teaming up with the iconic BMW brand... BMW has had a big part to play in our family’s motor racing history,” he stated.

“The M6 GT3 is awesome! I can’t wait to get behind the wheel!” Richards said.

BMW Australia’s entry will debut at the second round of the local sprint championship at the F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne in late March.

The full details of its program have not been released but BMW Australia says SRM will contest all four rounds of the Australian GT Endurance Championship: Phillip Island (May 29), Sydney Motorsport Park (August 26-28), Hampton Downs (October 28-30) and Highlands Park 101 (November 13).

BMW Australia has previously been linked to a V8 Supercars program. The decision to favour the GT series is arguably a significant thumbs down to V8 Supercars Gen 2 rules due to come into force in 2017.

Lexus Australia has also shunned the new V8 Supercar regs, instead opting to support the Australian GT series, although not until 2017.

Nissan Australia has recently been linked to a local ‘semi-factory’ GT3 proposal and has confirmed factory cars for the Bathurst 12 Hour.