MOTORSPORT: BMW Oz to go GT4 racing too

Not content with fostering the world's biggest factory-backed M6 GT3 race program outside the USA, BMW Australia looks set to go GT4 racing too.

Team BMW SRM M6 GT3 raced at this month's Bathurst 12 Hour, where Steven Richards, Mark Winterbottom and Marco Wittman set the early pace in Friday practice.

Three of the German brand's four cars qualified in the top 10 and although the Castrol Vodafone M6 GT3 of Bathurst veterans Mark Skaife, Russell Ingall, Tony Longhurst and German ex-F1 star Timo Glock failed to finish, the lead car finished 14th after power steering issues.

Speaking to motoring.com.au after his first Bathurst 12 Hour, BMW Group Australia managing director, Marc Werner, couldn't hide his enthusiasm for the international sports car-based racing formula.

"Motorsport is my personal favourite. It was my first Bathurst 12 Hour and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had four cars at Bathurst, five international drivers and a squad of international technicians,” An obvious enthusiastic Werner commented.

"Practice on Friday was a highlight with Marco Witttman fastest in the BMW Team SRM M6 GT3 and Chaz Mostert fastest in the MARC GT car. [But] We had a tough day on Sunday… Nonetheless we are unwavering in our determination to continue to work…” he opined.

“We can't wait for the next [opening] round of the Australian GT Championship at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March3, where we're very confident we'll continue to improve.

"BMW Australia is committed to motorsport and in particular the GT3 series and you will hear more from us in the year 2017, so stay tuned," Werner stated.

Expansion of BMW Motorsport in Australian sports car racing now looks set to extend to GT4. The category enters the CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series for the first time in 2017.

GT4 cars are less modified than their GT3 big brothers.

"We announced our motorsport engagement at the beginning of last year and to be honest that has been absolutely the right decision -- Australians love motorsport and they love high-performance cars,” Werner explained.

“There's a natural fit as far as BMW M is concerned… The launch of the BMW M6 GT3 was just about the right timing to re-enter the motorsport arena… We're also looking at what could be next and GT4 definitely would be the natural next step," he revealled.

Asked if that would mean a factory-supported program of M4 GT4 customer cars national level, Werner said: "Potentially. We still need to talk about the final set up but we're very confident it makes sense."

The new GT4-spec M4 made a relatively quiet race debut in mid-January at the Dubai 24 Hour. There it completed just under 3000km in the hands of BMW works drivers Jörg Müller and Jens Klingmann, and BMW Motorsport Junior, Ricky Collard (GBR).

Werner indicated that BMW Australia will import a number of M4 GT4s following the completion of the car's development later this year.

"We don't have cars here yet," he said.

"The first M4 GT4 had its first endurance test in Dubai in mid-January… We'll see some further tests shortly in other markets and I've urged by colleagues at BMW Motorsport to bring one down here."

Based on the piping-hot M4 GTS production car, the M4 racer was teased last August and made a surprise appearance at BMW Motorsport's end of year Season Review event in Munich late last year.

Not due for release until later this year ahead of the 2018 season, the M4 GT4 will retain the GTS road car’s twin-turbo straight-six engine with water-injection, but is likely to produce less power than the road car’s 368kW once regulation restrictors are added.

Other race mods will include an FIA-standard roll cage, racing suspension and less restrictive exhaust, but the M4 racer — which could eventually spawn an even hotter road car than the limited-edition M4 GTS — will retain its carbon-fibre bonnet and doors.

BMW already fields an M4 in the Germany’s DTM touring car championship, but those cars share very little in common with the M4 production car, nor GT4 racer.

Positioned between the M235i Racing and M6 GT3 in BMW Motorsport's GT car racing line-up, the GT4 car is expected to be made available as a customer car to privateer racing teams.

It will race against the likes of the Aston Martin Vantage GT4, Porsche Cayman GT4, Ginetta G55 and KTM X-BOW GT4. A number of other manufacturers have also announced GT4 racers.

When the GT4 class was added to the 2017 Australian GT Trophy Series late last year, Australian GT manager Ken Collier stated: “We expect that the number of GT4 cars will increase significantly over the next few years as the manufacturers offer very good race packages including reasonably priced cars which have longer major service intervals and overall lower running costs.

"The existing GT4 cars in Australia are already eligible and we will add the new GT4 cars to the list.”

Collier also tipped the Multimatic-built Mustang GT4 could find its way Down Under and into the series.

The five-round 2017 CAMS Australian GT Championship kicks off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide over March 2-5, while the four-round 2017 CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series starts at Sandown on April 8-9 and the four-round 2017 CAMS Endurance Championship begins at Phillip Island in May.

Given a sufficient number of GT4-spec entries, a fully-fledged Australian GT4 Championship is expected to be established as early as this year for the Australian Endurance Championship and 2018 for the Australian GT Championship.