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BMW LMDh comeback: Flasch holds out the prospect of closeness to the series

The proximity between motorsport and series vehicles is always hotly debated: For car manufacturers like BMW, the closest possible relationship is important not only for marketing reasons, the costs of racing involvement are also significantly lower when using components produced in series . Nevertheless, it is absolutely clear that the demands on a racing car are completely different from those on a road car - and the discrepancy between the two variants increases with each higher class of motorsport. For the BMW LMDh comeback, which was finally officially confirmed a few weeks ago, M and Motorsport boss Markus Flasch now has the prospect of a certain proximity to the series, which is interesting in two ways.

In an interview with Motorsport-Magazin , Flasch expressly says that the technology of the LMDh racing car should be related to the then available series vehicles. In other words: M GmbH will be putting a very sporty power hybrid on the road by 2023 at the latest, which could at least have a certain proximity to the LMDh racing cars. As a reminder: According to the regulations, hybrid drives are used in the LMDh class, in which an internal combustion engine carries the main load of the system output of around 680 hp.

Since the electric drive of the hybrid racing car only accounts for around 50 hp and this technology comes from the same manufacturer for all LMDh teams, the promised reference to the series is more likely to be related to the combustion engine and the general concept of a hybrid engine that is fully trimmed for performance. Refer to drive. Markus Flasch also made an exciting statement with regard to the internal combustion engine in an interview with Motorsport-Magazin: The engine is already finished!

If you take a look at the current engine line-up of the BMW Motorsport department, this statement comes as a surprise: You can only choose the P58 in-line six-cylinder from the BMW M4 GT3 , the 4-liter V8 of the M8 GTE - and officially not more used four-cylinder turbo P48 , which was developed for the DTM 2019 and 2020. All of the engines mentioned are related to large-scale series engines, which, however, have not yet been part of a performance-oriented hybrid drive.

Markus Flasch also confirms that the previous focus of communication on Daytona and other US missions is not a decision against Le Mans. Of course, it is an option to start a LMDh prototype that has been realized once with a chance of overall victory in the Le Mans 24-hour race - and to be honest, all the friction with the Le Mans organizer ACO speaks very little for missing out on this high-profile surcharge.

https://www.bimmertoday.de/2021/06/2...e-in-aussicht/