These Very Young Motorsport Drivers Get to Ride in BMW M Cars When Off-Track

This is how the original BMW Junior Team came to life, a program that was derived in various forms over the years. Now the company is reanimating it with another set of talents: Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen.

More than four decades away from the initial concept, the new BMW Junior Team is already racing at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, where Harper and Verhagen have already scored their first Nürburgring Endurance Series win in a M240i Racing.

But to be frank this time around we are interested in what the youngsters drive during their time off the track. This is because BMW’s M GmbH has just announced – through head honcho Markus Flasch – that each will receive their own BMW M car.

The freebies are nicely wrapped in the form of a M2 Competition, an M3 Limousine, and an M4 Coupe. Neerpasch, the original BMW Junio Team leader back in 1977, has also returned for the 2020 reincarnation of the program and oversees the talented youngsters’ first steps towards a professional racing career.

He was also present at the event alongside Flasch and said: “For me, M cars are the best BMWs. You can drive them flat-out on the Nordschleife and then travel home in comfort on public roads. How many cars can do that? I love these cars.” All three of them seem entirely capable of achieving what the BMW M legend implies.

That is especially true since the Bavarian automaker is just about ready to present the new generation M3 Sedan and M4 Coupe. The latter has already been confirmed to arrive with the interesting vertical grille and up to 510 hp behind it. That would be for the Competition version, but even the base will deliver no less than 480 hp.