Greater focus for the BMW Group’s international motorsport programme: future and customers in the centre.

Munich. The BMW Group establishes its motorsport programme for
the future with a clear focus. The foundation is the BMW Group
strategy NUMBER ONE NEXT. With this strategy, the BMW Group is
taking account of the transition in the automobile industry.
Motorsport remains an integral part of BMW’s DNA and continues the
resolute forward-looking orientation in just the same way as the
company. By moving into new future fields and having a sharper
focus, BMW Group Motorsport is contributing to the corporate
strategy, taking the current economic conditions into account.

The range of activities in BMW i Motorsport and BMW M
Motorsport will remain broad in the future. With its involvement in
the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, BMW demonstrates its
electrification expertise and its claim as technological leader with
the BMW i brand. On the other hand, the dynamics and the performance
of BMW M cars remain paramount in the DTM and in the IMSA WeatherTech
SportsCar Championship. As part of having a focus, BMW will bid
farewell to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the end of
the current ‘Super Season’. In customer racing, a new flagship for the
GT3 category is in the works. 

As an additional future-oriented field, BMW will increase its
involvement in sim racing, which is recognised as an independent
motorsport discipline and attracts new young target groups. In
addition, the collaboration between BMW Motorrad Motorsport and BMW
Group Motorsport will be further strengthened to use more synergies –
especially regarding commercial and logistical aspects – between
automobile and motorcycle racing. 

The aim of the future commitments is to make use of
technological synergies within the development department. There will
also be greater focus on existing and potential customers. The close
relationship with BMW M will be clearly visible in production car
racing, but beyond pure technology, customers will enjoy even greater
benefits from the BMW Group’s motorsport commitment and get involved –
whether on site or in new areas such as virtual sim racing.

Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
Development, said: “Motorsport is and will remain firmly established
in the genes of the BMW Group. We are using our commitment – next to
the sporting competition – to demonstrate our performance and future
ability as a company. The same developers that are driving forward
electrification for BMW i are also working in Formula E. This ensures
that BMW is also synonymous with driving pleasure in the field of
electromobility. Through sim racing, we are reaching new, young target
groups and giving our young drivers another platform, on which to
compete. We are also demonstrating that BMW M stands for performance
and high-performance motorsport on the racetracks of this world – for
example, with Class 1, GTLM, GT3 and GT4. With this broad programme,
despite a challenging environment, we are well positioned and are
supporting the goals of our company strategy Number ONE Next.”

Pieter Nota, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
Customer, Brands, Sales, said: “Motorsport will remain of great
significance for our brands BMW and BMW Motorrad in the future.
However, this environment has become increasingly complex in recent
years. With that in mind, we are very well positioned with our
differentiation between BMW i Motorsport and BMW M Motorsport. This
enables us to address our target groups even more specifically on the
one hand, and to attain maximum widespread impact on the other hand.
These are important evaluation criteria for our commitments.” 

The BMW Group Motorsport programme in detail.

BMW Group Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt talks about the details
of the different modules of the strategy going forward. “Motorsport
has always been an important pacesetter for the BMW Group, and a
relevant testing ground for future development in the automobile
industry as a whole – and that will remain the case.

Formula E has proved to be a fantastic
platform for us to show our expertise in the area of electromobility,
and to focus on other topics of the future. Our entry at the start of
Season 5 was a resounding success, and we won at the first time of
asking. Our involvement in this series is set for the long term. For
us, Formula E is not simply a matter of motorsport, our involvement
goes beyond that. For us, it is an important platform for
demonstrating our expertise in the major fields of innovation in the
automobile industry. What is important to us is that the cost-benefit
ratio in Formula E remains positive, even with new competitors joining constantly.”

“With the introduction of the new Class 1 regulation, the new
turbo engine, a new manufacturer and important steps towards
internationalisation, the DTM has embarked on a
promising journey. Now it is important to keep going. We believe in
the series and will fully support the DTM in further expanding its
international presence.”

“The IMSA series plays a central role for us in
North America and is developing well. The USA is the most important
market for BMW M cars, so it is very fitting to build a direct bridge
to our production models there with the BMW M8 GTE.”

“We will not compete in WEC going forward.
Therefore, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June will be another highlight
for us in drawing to a close – just like in 2018, when we celebrated
the successful world premiere of the BMW 8 Series Coupe there. But in
light of us sharpening our focus as part of our strategy for the
future, continuing our WEC involvement in the coming years does not
fit with our direction. The global presence of BMW M Motorsport is
safeguarded by customer racing and the DTM in Asia and Europe, as well
as the IMSA series in North America, even without competing in a world
championship. We would like to thank BMW Team MTEK for its dedication
over recent years and we wish WEC all the best and hope that it makes
good progress.”

“As part of the BMW M Motorsport Customer Racing
Programme
, privateer drivers and teams will continue to
represent the BMW brand around the world in the future. We will
provide them with a wide range of support – and competitive vehicles
of course. The BMW M4 GT4 has proved to be a real winner since its
debut in the 2018 season and the BMW M6 GT3 continues to celebrate
regular victories all over the world. A successor for our successful
GT3 model is already in the works. This means that works-supported
starts in iconic international GT races such as at the Nordschleife,
at Spa-Francorchamps or in Macau will still be possible.”

“It is great to see how many touch points there already are
between the BMW Motorrad Motorsport programme and us
at BMW Motorsport. We want to make these synergies even more intense
under the umbrella of BMW M Motorsport in the coming years. The
WorldSBK is the ideal stage for the BMW S 1000 RR, with which the BMW
Motorrad WorldSBK Team represents the BMW colours.”

Sim racing is an exciting future-oriented
field for us – and is now an officially recognised motorsport
discipline. We have the utmost respect for the competitors in these
virtual races and want to make them even stronger with our experience
and technologies. To that end, we will draw up a programme that is
linked to our BMW Motorsport Junior Programme and raises it to a new level.”