MUNICH - The teaser campaign for the new BMW M4 has officially kicked off, but it’s the racing version that the German carmaker is showing off first.
What you see here is an official rendering of the GT3 racing version of the next M4 and it’s set to become the new flagship of BMW’s customer racing portfolio.
The production car is set to be revealed in the coming months, and its design is sure to prove controversial, since it adopts the huge vertical kidney grille inspired by the 4 Series Concept that caused a stir at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in September.
On the performance front, the new M4 has AMG’s 375kW C63 firmly in its crosshairs, with power coming from the latest-generation straight-six turbopetrol engine that powers the new X3 M and X4 M models, but perhaps with a little more power.
BMW says the new M4’s engine will produce “more than 500 hp” which is 373kW in metric speak, and some reports have suggested that the final figure, for the Competition version, could be 380kW, with the standard model tuned to 358kW.
It is also widely reported that the next M3 will be offered in both rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive configurations, with the former also offering a manual gearbox option, and so it’s likely that the M4 will offer a similar choice of derivatives.
The GT3 race car, meanwhile, is currently in the early stages of development and is due to undergo intensive testing in 2020, while testing in actual race conditions will commence in 2021.
“With our new GT3 project, we are emphasising the significance of BMW M Customer Racing. It is a central pillar of our motorsport programme,” said BMW motorsport boss Jens Marquardt.
“With the introduction of the new GT3 regulations for 2022, the BMW M4 is the perfect base. The core product from our colleagues at BMW M is yet again just great. Without wanting to give too much away, the BMW M4 GT3 will be a real highlight in terms of optics and technology.
“Development is already at full speed. The rollout is planned for the second half of 2020”.