Sunday 22nd March

New BMW M3 Touring GT3 triumphs on debut...

And looks mighty good doing it

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It was a very successful weekend for BMW at the first round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS). Not only did an M4 GT3 Evo, driven by Brit Dan Harper and Jordan Pepper, win overall - following a disqualification for Max Verstappen’s Mercedes, which used too many tyres - the M3 Touring GT3 also won its class. An auspicious start to another year’s endurance racing on the ‘ring. 

There are caveats, as always. Prior to the disqualification, the AMG GT3 of Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon was a minute ahead of the BMW, so it would have been a pretty comfortable victory. And remember the M3 estate is competing in the experimental SPX class, rather than directly against other GT3-spec machines. For this round of the NLS, just one other car was in its category, a KTM X-Bow GTX. It came home 26th overall and second in class, against 12th overall and first for the BMW.

While it will likely have stronger competition as the season progresses, by its nature the SP-X category is never as keenly fought as some others. Probably most encouraging for the Touring team of Jens Klingmann and Ugo de Wilde is its pace is on par with the SP-9 GT3 machines, with an average speed above 170km/h and a fastest lap close to eight minutes. A trouble-free run meant that the 24H M3 finished ahead of both a Rowe Racing SP9-Pro M4 and in front of all bar one of the SP9 Pro-Am machines. Largely to be expected, of course, because this is a GT3 machine with a different body, but encouraging nonetheless. To finish first, first you have to finish and all that. 

Indeed it sounds like the Touring 24H enjoyed something of a dream debut. Klingmann said: “We can draw an entirely positive conclusion... We are also very satisfied with the pace, the balance, and our learnings. There are no vibrations, no rattles, and even the little things that are important, especially for the 24-hour race, we have now started to sort out. All in all, I really enjoyed it.” Add that to the enormous interest generated by the new racing car and the weekend probably couldn’t have gone much better for BMW. Though just imagine how fired up Verstappen is going to be for the next round now…

Torsten Schubert, Team Principal of Schubert Motorsport, added: “Overall, we are very satisfied with the premiere of the BMW M3 Touring 24H. We can match the pace, similar to the GT3 cars. The first developments with the Yokohama tyre are also very positive. Now we want to continue doing a clean job – from the qualifying race to the 24-hour race.”

Not long to wait, of course, with this year’s N24 running in May. Imagine how cool an M3 Touring is going to look dicing with the Ferraris and 911s with the sun going down…

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• BMW blows minds with new GT3-spec M3 Touring
• BMW unveils new M Performance Track Kit for M2

[pSyCoSiS]

That does look rather spectacular. Top work from BMW to actually make it, after an April Fool's tease!

[I 8 a 4RE]

I think everyone’s a winner after this weekends NLS. Racing was spectacular (in comparison to the WWE - F1 bulljive), cars looked great, Ring looked fantastic and media coverage is getting better (although they have to fix the English commentators)

[pheonix478]

I 8 a 4RE said:

... media coverage is getting better (although they have to fix the English commentators)

Where was it broadcast?

[mrnoisy78]

Like all other G series M3 and 4 cars, it looks passable until you see the front.
In this guise, the angry pig nostrils grille looks even more ludicrous than on the road cars, it’s such a shame they didn’t take use the endeavour to develop something that looked more stylish yet still functional, that they could have used to fix the road car design and increase sales as a result.
Definitely a missed opportunity.

[Gad-Westy]

Does that subtle aero mod at the back prevent use of the split rear tailgate?

Racing estates are cool though!

[911stu]

Gad-Westy said:

Does that subtle aero mod at the back prevent use of the split rear tailgate?

Racing estates are cool though!

Aero mod? Didn’t notice.

But yes, racing estates are cool ….T5r is coolest of all.

[pheonix478]

911stu said:

Aero mod? Didn t notice.

But yes, racing estates are cool .T5r is coolest of all.

Always expected a grandfather clock and sofa to come flying out the back when Rydell and Lammers used to take a foot or 3 of curb!

[Slippydiff]

mrnoisy78 said:

Like all other G series M3 and 4 cars, it looks passable until you see the front.
In this guise, the angry pig nostrils grille looks even more ludicrous than on the road cars, it s such a shame they didn t take use the endeavour to develop something that looked more stylish yet still functional, that they could have used to fix the road car design and increase sales as a result.
Definitely a missed opportunity.

Little known fact, BMW's and Quaker Oat's advertising agency got the product tag lines for Oat so Simple and the BMW G series M cars mixed up ...

[DaveyBoyWonder]

How can we stop people moaning about how awful the front end of the M3 looks?

Make the back end the talking point.

[Antj]

Was a good atmosphere at the track on Saturday and it was lovely weather, made me feel excited for the 24hr this year, forget the fact they have snow tomorrow summer is coming

[jimmytheone]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

How can we stop people moaning about how awful the front end of the M3 looks?

Make the back end the talking point.

The front still looks awful

But the back does make me laugh and thats got to be a good thing

[nismo48]

pheonix478 said:

911stu said:

Aero mod? Didn t notice.

But yes, racing estates are cool .T5r is coolest of all.

Always expected a grandfather clock and sofa to come flying out the back when Rydell and Lammers used to take a foot or 3 of curb!

Agh great day's

[Jon_S_Rally]

I 8 a 4RE said:

I think everyone s a winner after this weekends NLS. Racing was spectacular (in comparison to the WWE - F1 bulljive), cars looked great, Ring looked fantastic and media coverage is getting better (although they have to fix the English commentators)

Agreed. The English commentary team was pretty awful. There are so many great - and extremely knowledgeable - people out there that could do this work, but broadcasters so often manage to find a pair of boring old codgers who are totally out-of-touch with reality. Their lack of general car knowledge when talking about the M3 Touring in particular showed how unsuitable they were. Even if you weren't an expert, given the significance of this car, why wouldn't you have a cheat-sheet in the commentary box so you could talk about it confidently? Instead, they spent a good few minutes demonstrating that they had no idea of the difference between an M3 and an M4.

I'm sure I'm bitter but, as someone that works in an around motorsport media, it drives me nuts how many people are in it that don't deserve to be. It's a proper little club, packed with overrated people who are there because they say the right things or, in some cases, because they must be gobbling the right people.

911stu said:

Aero mod? Didn t notice.

But yes, racing estates are cool .T5r is coolest of all.

I hate to break it to you, but the 850 BTCC cars were not T-5Rs. They were just regular 850s and used a 2.0-litre, normally-aspirated engine. Ironically, the T-5R isn't even the best road-going 850. The later 850R is actually the one to have, as the manual version has a bigger turbo and a limited-slip differential.