Head of BMW M Motorsport, Andreas Roos has signalled the German manufacturers intent to attract customers down under to contest Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS.
Launched in 2021 as replacement to the successful M6 GT3, the M4 iteration won the DTM title on debut and last year’s Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa courtesy of Rowe Racing.
Given the uptake of BMW’s M4 GT4 in recent months by Australian customers, Roos believes the same can occur for the GT3 version as the burgeoning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS series continues to build, highlighted by Arise Racing GT’s Ferrari campaign.
“I think we have now already five of our GT4 cars in Australia,” said Roos.
“I don’t know if they are all sold, but I know that we delivered five cars to Australia, and so there his definitely the interest on the Australian side and the Australian market to have our products there.
“We are still in discussions about GT3, if there are possibilities coming up to also have a GT3 car there, but definitely we have started already with the GT4 car.
“And for sure for us, it would be also nice to see the M4 GT3 there. We have to see.
Developed by BMW M factory driver and former DTM star Bruno Spengler, the M4 is powered by a turbocharged straight six engine generating up to 590bhp, with power being transferred through an Xtrac six-speed gearbox.
A new Evo version will launch next year as Roos highlighted this as an opportunity for potential Australian customers to join the BMW fold.
“We will have the Evo car coming from 2025, because the car is now in the third year of its homologation like we run it at the moment, so there will be an update of the M4 GT3 car, the Evo version for 2025,” Roos explained.
“So there will be some new cars coming on the market and maybe in Australia is also happy to run a car for us.
“It’s an update in several areas, not just to improve the performance of the car, because in the end it is a BoP championship, so to improve the car and at the end be penalised is not helping.
“So we worked a lot on drivability, handling, handling for the mechanics to reduce the cost of running the car because it’s always a topic, how high are the running costs of the car.
“Because as I said, it doesn’t bring you anything to make the car two seconds quicker when in at the end the BoP takes away those two seconds.
“There are lots of updates here and there, but it’s also not a completely new car.
“I can also say, all the M4 GT3s, which are now on the market can be updated to the Evo version via an upgrade kit.
“So it’s not that you have to put your car in the bin and you have to buy a new one.”
Repco Bathurst 12 Hour Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy winner Sheldon van der Linde revealed his eagerness to return down under for a domestic round if the opportunity arose.
“I think there are some cool tracks in Australia, like Phillip Island,” said van der Linde.
“My brother [Kelvin] raced down here in the past and said the tracks were pretty cool.”
BMW last contested a GT title here in Australia back in 2018 with multiple Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards at the helm.