Denis Droppa
An April Fools’ joke from 2025 is becoming a reality when the BMW M3 Touring 24H takes to the racetracks this year.
The speedy station wagon will take part in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring on May 16.
Shortly after the global launch of the M3 Touring road car in 2022, BMW’s M Motorsport division began toying with the idea of building a racing version. However, it took an April Fools’ joke to turn the idea into reality.
On April 1 2025, BMW M Motorsport posted images on its social media platforms of a supposedly in-development BMW M3 Touring GT race car. The response from fans and the media to this post was overwhelming, reaching more than one million users and generating over 1.6 million views.
Inspired by the engagement on the posts, BMW engineers built a race car in just eight months. Festooned in “You dreamed it, we built it” race livery, the M3 Touring 24H shares the same mechanicals as BMW’s regular racer, the M4 GT3 EVO coupe that competes in top-tier global GT racing series.
That means a 3.0l straight-six turbo engine with around 440kW of power sent to the rear wheels. The station wagon is 200mm longer and, including the rear wing, 32mm higher than the M4 GT3 EVO.
The car will be fielded by Schubert Motorsport and piloted by four BMW M works drivers: Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde, Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen. 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.
“This is truly a unique project, and I am absolutely delighted to be a part of it,” said Klingmann.
“The fact that we took our fans’ reactions to an April Fools’ joke as an opportunity to actually make the BMW M3 Touring 24H a reality speaks to our closeness to our community and our enthusiasm for motorsport.
“It has to be said clearly that the car may have started as an April Fools’ joke, but it has become an absolutely top-class and competitive race car. Our goal is to put on a great show for the spectators at the Nürburgring and to finish the race as far up front as possible. I am convinced that we can achieve a top result.”
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