Quote:
Originally Posted by Blipit_
They already pulled out of ALMS once. When their E46 M3 GT no longer met homologation rules.
As far as the 24hr Le Mans goes, ever since ACO made BMW change their suspension from what that had been running on the E92 in ALMS. They took their ball a went home. The Z4 GTLM has not been all that successful in the last two seasons. Corvette has won back to back championships and the Z4 has slowly been moving back in the field. There are a couple tighter tracks that favor their chassis.
We will see. But as it stands now the IMSA rules book does not favor forced induction engines. I think BMW knows they would have a hard time competing against the big normally aspirated V8's in the GTLM class. Hence there is no info on an upcoming M4 racing program.
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ALMS was more strict then I believe, generally speaking GT racing seems to have relaxed homologation to an extent, or at least more willing to grant certain exemptions like the Z4.
Also, BMW has been very successful in GT racing in the last few years and I'm not just talking about ALMS/IMSA. They've finished well this year in IMSA with some bad luck in the last few races but certainly in the mix for the championship, they're certainly not at the back of the track. In GTD, the Z3 GT3 has a class leading number of wins. They've done well in a variety of European enduro races from what I've seen though I will admit I don't follow the various series over there very much. From what I've seen they have the best chassis but lack the top end speed, thus I think this would push them even more to build a successor.
What they decide to do with the engine I'm not sure, it's possible the upcoming rules changes to GT racing may favor turbocharging more to attract more/keep car makers seeing as Merc is going entirely turbo on the AMG range as well. Rumors are the next R8 will use their turbo v8, though they may still produce a NA v10.