BMW M3 is back in ALMS for 2008

I can’t remember if it was five or six years ago now, but the BMW M3 was absolutely dominating the American Le Mans Series in the GT2 class for a short stint. The only problem with it was that per the ALMS rules the race car had to run the same “type” of engine that the street car came with, or they at least had to sell a certain number of cars with that engine package. And in this case the M3 was running a V8 when their street cars all had two fewer cylinders. Needless to say the Porsche guys were all over that and BMW was soon out of the series. Many of us were sad to see such a beautiful, well-built race car disappear from the series.

In 2008 the BMW M3 will be back in the GT2 class with the new E90 body style with the Rahal/Letterman team. And this time the V8 that will be powering the race car is based on the same engine that powers every new M3 on the street. It will be fighting new competitors this time around and the battles should be fierce. Ferrari has the crown in the once Porsche-dominated class and they don’t seem interested in backing down. Not to mention that the class now feature cars from at least eight different auto manufacturers. BMW has their work cut out for them. It should be fun to watch!

To read more on the new BMW racing effort go to the ALMS site.