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BMW Considering Le Mans LMP1 Entry in the Future

BMW will return to the World Endurance Championship, which will be marked by running in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race of 2018.
BMW M6 GTLM 9 photos
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The confirmed entry will probably take place with a GTE-spec vehicle, which will be the replacement of the BMW M6 GT LM. The German brand has not specified what vehicle it will use for its participation in 2018, but there’s plenty of time to reveal their contender.

Along with the FIA World Endurance Championship, BMW officials confirmed their participation in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Both entries, which were announced this September, are part of BMW’s “strategic realignment” of motorsport activities. In other words, BMW is investing in motorsport as it used to do many years ago.

With the two entries, the German company has made people curious about the top tier of the World Endurance Championship, which is known to motorsport enthusiasts as the LMP1 class. As you already know, Audi has announced its intention to end its Le Mans program by 2018, and that leaves room for another major brand to enter the queen class of motorsport.

Some believe that Peugeot will return to fight for the top spot in the World Endurance Championship, and the French brand was reportedly offered private financing to support the effort. However, other voices suggest that BMW is planning a full-on offensive in this direction, which could eventually include an LMP1 competitor.

BMW dismissed any LMP1 rumors in 2015, but that statement was made too long ago to be relevant today. After all, nobody knew that Audi had any plans of quitting LMP1, and BMW’s entry in the GTE Pro class of endurance racing was not confirmed.

BMW is already battling Audi in DTM, the touring car championship that sees Germany’s premium brands compete on the track in vehicles that have almost no relation to their production equivalents.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
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Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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