Marc Surer were charged with the driving duties, managing a best finish of fourth place in Portland.Five years later, BMW returned with the GTP. The chassis began life as a March 86G, which BMW heavily revised. Fitted with a Formula 1-derived, 2.1-liter, turbocharged, four-
cylinder engine, the BMW GTP was capable of an official 700hp in race trim and up to 900 in qualifying guise. It made the car blazingly fast, yet achingly unreliable. Still, a young Davy Jones and John Andretti piloted the BMW GTP to its sole win at Watkins Glen in 1986.“Andretti
and Jones represented BMW’s long established Junior program, something we continued during our Formula BMW program from 2004 through 2009,” says Leleu. “Drivers like Graham Rahal, James Hinchcliffe, Tommy Milner and Robert Wickens all started their careers as Formula BMW Junior drivers.”
The PTG BMW M3 GT was a prolific racer winner in IMSA, taking victory in nearly half of its starts.
Having dominated European touring car racing with the first-gen M3, BMW decided it was time to take on America with the second and, eventually, the third generations of the M3. In what was a prolific era for the marque from 1995 through 2006, a BMW M3 crossed the finish line in first place an amazing 53 times from 118 races entered by BMW Team PTG.That
was also when an upstart driver from Southern California began a career that, by the end of 2017, would net him 400 race starts for BMW – more than any other driver in history. Bill Auberlen is the only driver to win at least one race in all of the eras and manifestations of IMSA’s history across multiple categories, driving virtually every BMW competition car.
The BMW V12 LMR raced only two seasons in IMSA, but led the way for a new generation of prototypes.
The turn of the century gave rise to two cars indelible in the mythology of racing BMWs. First was the V12 LMR prototype. As at the dawn of the GTP era, BMW was again prescient, paving the way for a new era of prototype racing in IMSA that still continues. The V12 LMR, run by Schnitzer Motorsport, won on its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1999 with
drivers JJ Lehto, Tom Kristensen and Jörg Muller. After winning at Le Mans, the V12 LMRs returned stateside, and finished runners-up in the ALMS Team Championship despite missing two rounds.Second was the M3 GTR, a car so revered, it’s enshrined not only in motor racing history, but also as a star of the video-gaming world as well. Outfitted with extra-
wide wheel arches and a 4-liter V8 in its snout, the M3 GTR won seven races during the 2001 ALMS season, crushing the opposition so handily, it was effectively outlawed by the 2002 rulebook.Following another brief hiatus,