MUNICH: An overwhelmingly successful April Fools’ joke from 2025 is becoming reality at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring 2026 – the racing version of the BMW M3 Touring.
On May 16 - 17, the M3 Touring 24H will compete as a spectacular highlight for spectators in the “Green Hell.”
To recap, shortly after the market launch of the M3 Touring road car in 2022, BMW M Motorsport began considering the idea of building a racing version as well.
However, it took a special key moment to turn the idea of parallel engineers into a concrete plan – and that moment was, of all things, an April Fools’ joke.
On April 1, 2025, BMW M Motorsport posted images on its social media platforms of a supposedly in-development M3 Touring GT race car.
The response from fans and the media to this post was overwhelming.
It reached more than one million users and generated over 1.6 million views.
Engagement on the posts was also many times higher than the usual figures for BMW M Motorsport’s social media channels.
Inspired by this success, the previously conceived plans to realise a racing version of the BMW M3 Touring became concrete in the summer of 2025.
Within just eight months, the engineers at BMW M Motorsport built the M3 Touring 24H.
It shares the same technical base as the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, but is derived from the basic body of the M3 Touring.
The M3 Touring 24H is 200mm longer and, including the rear wing, 32mm higher than the M4 GT3 EVO.
The technical data of both race cars are identical.
At the wheel of the M3 Touring 24H, which is fielded by Schubert Motorsport, will be four BMW M works drivers: Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde (BEL), Connor De Phillippi, and Neil Verhagen (both USA).
The car will compete in the SPX class and will therefore not be in direct competition with the three BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, which will be fighting for overall victory in the top SP9 category.
The M3 Touring 24H will complete its preparations at the second NLS race as well as at the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers.
Like the #77 BMW M4 GT3 EVO from Schubert Motorsport, the M3 Touring 24H will also run on tyres from BMW M Motorsport partner Yokohama.
BMW M Motorsport head Andreas Roos said, "A project like the BMW M3 Touring 24H has never existed at BMW M Motorsport before. I am thrilled – and at the same time, I am certain that our fans, who are never closer to us than at our second home on the Nürburgring, will be just as excited."
