Skip to main content

After a seven-year absence, BMW will return to Le Mans in 2018

BMW at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans
BMW likes to tout its motor sports pedigree, but since 2011 the German automaker has been absent from one of racing’s biggest stages: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But BMW is planning a comeback.

It will enter the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the race series that includes Le Mans, in 2018, and will race in the GTE class for production-based cars. That means BMW won’t compete for an overall Le Mans win, but it will rub fenders with the same cars it competes with in showrooms.

The GTE class includes the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Ferrari 488, and Ford GT (which won the class at Le Mans this year). Using race cars based on road cars makes the class more relevant to fans than the top LMP1 prototype class. It also allows BMW to pick up where it left off, as the company’s last Le Mans appearance was with an M3 GT, which finished third. BMW also won Le Mans overall in 1999 with its V12 LMR prototype.

Read more: Porsche 919 Hybrid Le Mans car cruises London streets

Exactly which car BMW will enter in the WEC is unclear. It currently uses a racing version of the M6 in certain U.S. and European series, but by the time 2018 rolls around it may decide to switch to a different model. BMW may also partner with a full-time race team, just as it does in the U.S.-based WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, rather than run the cars entirely by itself.

Separately, BMW also announced a tie-in with the Andretti Formula E team. The arrangement will last two seasons, and will include “cooperation on an engineering level and the mutual use of resources,” in the electric-car racing series, according to a Formula E press release. BMW may enter its own factory team in the 2018-19 season, depending on how things go. It already supplies pace cars and support vehicles to Formula E.

In addition to BMW, Audi, DS, Jaguar, Mahindra, Renault, and Venturi are all involved in Formula E on some level, as are startups Faraday Future and NextEV. Manufacturers are expected to get more involved in the coming seasons as organizers loosen restrictions on car design.

Editors' Recommendations

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Formula E brings racing back to Switzerland after 60 years
Formula E New York City ePrix Jaguar

It may host the Geneva Motor Show, but Switzerland isn't exactly known as a car crazy country. It has no major indigenous automakers to speak of, and hasn't hosted a race in decades. But the latter part is about to change.

Formula E will bring its electric cars to Switzerland June 10, 2018, for a race in Zurich. Series organizers say this "Zurich ePrix" will be the first car race held in Switzerland in over 60 years. While the series is relatively new, Formula E's use of all-electric race cars continues to open doors.

Read more
BMW’s M8 coupe will head to the track to take on the world’s best
BMW M8 GTE

The road-going version hasn't seen the light of day yet, but BMW is already preparing a racing version of its M8 coupe.

Christened the M8 GTE, this race car completed its first round of testing at the Lausitzring in Germany in July, and was unveiled to the public this week at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. The "GTE" designation corresponds to the top class for production-based cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship. This series includes the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the main reason for developing the M8 GTE.

Read more
McLaren will return to Le Mans if the racing gets less expensive
McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans 1995

The 24 Hours of Le Mans and McLaren. They're two of the most legendary names in motor sports, and they're both in trouble. But they could help each other out of that trouble.

McLaren is open to returning to Le Mans in the top LMP1 class, but only if certain rule changes are made, boss Zak Brown said in a recent interview with Motorsport.com. Besides being one of the biggest racing stories of the decade, a McLaren Le Mans renaissance could help both parties. McLaren's reputation has been tarnished by recent poor performance in Formula One, and Porsche's departure leaves only Toyota competing in the Le Mans LMP1 class.

Read more