The German manufacturer, which has competed in almost all forms of motorsport from World Rallying to Formula One, makes a long-awaited return to the top flight of sports prototype racing this year in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The season-opening 24-Hours of Daytona marked the first time a works-led BMW endurance machine has hit the track since the BMW V12 LMR back in 1999, when Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini and Yannick Dalmas took overall victory at Le Mans.
It was the first step towards a full-blown return to the FIA World Endurance Championship next season and another assault on Le Mans – and there was no mistaking the aggressive styling drawn from all areas of the BMW back catalogue in the new contender.
The car is designed to IMSA’s new Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class regulations and speaking at the car’s full livery launch last September, IMSA president John Doohan said: “[GTP] opened up the opportunity for design and styling to allow the brand to do more.
“While it’s a prototype car, it emulates the GTs, so you could pull up an M5 or M4 and recognize the brand, the family. When I explained to the designers they had the opportunity to design a race car, they were like kids in an art class.
“Men and women who design road cars now have the opportunity to design the ultimate [machine] and BMW is certainly in the running for best-looking one in the group – from lighting, design, styling cues, the lines – it is the ultimate expression of the BMW brand.”
It was hard to miss the radical integration of the company’s corporate face – the giant kidney grilles – while the brand’s Hofmeister kink also joined the design cue party, appearing along the window at an aggressive angle that makes it stand out proud.
But it’s not just the car that has been given the design treatment – because PUMA, as long-term licensing and team partner of BMW M Motorsport, designed a footwear line that look the part too, with a radical new design that copies the same styling cues as the car.
Designated the ‘BMW M Motorsport LGND’ the footwear combines inspiration from the classic BMW styling and PUMA’s Speedcat line and features M-inspired chrome accents, adaptive reflective materials and even a T-Toe shape that reflects the aggressive bonnet styling.
The shoes even feature that world famous Hofmeister kink which, just like BMW’s kidney front grille, is a design signature that has featured on every car model since the advent of the BMW Neue Klasse.
The shoes are available for fans to buy and with this attention to detail in all areas it is clear the brand means business in the world of endurance racing, with the ultimate aim of putting its drivers’ boots on the podium at the greatest endurance race of them all.
This season, the IMSA Championship will be a proving ground for the LMDh and its drivers, with high performance stakes. The opening weekend marked another major landmark in the BMW M-Sport’s history, but that was only the beginning.
