Photo: BMW
BMW has started development on an EVO kit for the M4 GT3 with plans to roll the updated car out to customers ahead of a 2025 debut.
The Munich-based manufacturer launched its latest GT3 offering ahead of the 2022 season, with the car currently in the second year of its lifecycle.
This season, it took victory in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and finished second at the Nürburgring 24, both with ROWE Racing.
The updated M4 GT3, which is being developed by BMW M Team RMG and is currently undergoing testing at Spa-Francorchamps, is set to be rolled out to customers in the latter half of next year. It is the first GT3 Evo kit that BMW has introduced.
BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos told Sportscar365 that the company had planned from the beginning to introduce an EVO version after the first three years of the car’s lifecycle were completed.
“You basically have the car for three years, so it’s running 2022, 2023 and 2024, and this is the EVO which comes 2025,” said Roos.
“Purely from the development time, production time and everything, we said we don’t want to squeeze everything in one year.
“We said we start already quite early, so our original plan was to finish the development end of 2023, to start let’s say ordering, production and everything in 2024 to have the cars ready end of 2024 for customers.
“It’s just making your life easier and it makes life easier for the customers because we are a bit ahead.
“For sure you could also squeeze in and say, ‘OK, the first half year I do all the testing and then I start.’
“But then when you see maybe something we could do better in the development, then you suddenly run out of time.
“Then it’s just getting expensive and it’s because you have to do a quick change.
“Now we really said we want to finish the development phase, then we sign off the parts and say, ‘Okay, these are the parts for the EVO version.’ And then you go into the production ordering process.”
Factory driver Jens Klingmann explained that drivability and tire wear are the main areas of development for the updated platform.
“I think the M4 is very easy to handle in general, but I think still there was some margin, especially on the tire wear,” he told Sportscar365.
“The window of under and overdriving overdriving still needs to be bigger, so you don’t need to be a super professional driver which sits in the car every week like we do, to be able to squeeze out the maximum.
“Just make it even more drivable for everybody. And this is from the hardware, from the aerodynamics, but also from the ABS and traction control as well, for example.
“But this is still under all development, so we had some tests already this year.”
When asked if the updated car could see some race outings prior to the customer rollout, Roos replied that BMW “haven’t decided yet” but ruled out that the M4 GT3 EVO will see action before the end of this year.
“It will be 2024, so we will not see any race, not that I know of, in 2023 with the EVO car,” he said.
“We focus now on the development, and then maybe next year we will see some, but I think it’s then most likely after the Nürburgring 24.”
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