Throughout its history, BMW cars and motorcycles have been successful in a range of motorsport activities. Apart from the factory efforts, many privateer teams enter BMW road cars in

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mov ...

. BMW also entered cars or provided engines in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009– 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name ...

and

sportscar racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

. BMW is currently active in

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

, the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

, the

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a Northern Irish motorsport event established in 1929 for road racing motorcycles held on a street circuit known as ''the Triangle'' between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast ...

, the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

and the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB- FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The s ...

(German Touring Car Championship). An outstanding role has been played by the 1,500 cc

BMW M10 The BMW M10 is an SOHC four-cylinder petrol engine which was produced from 1962-1988. It was BMW's first four-cylinder engine since the BMW 309 ended production in 1936 and was introduced in the New Class sedans. Over 3.5 million M10 engines w ...

engine block. The four-cylinder started with modest in 1961, became successful in touring cars, developed over in 1970s

, and at the ripe age of a quarter century, produced almost twentyfold its original power in the 1986 turbocharged

BMW M12 The BMW M12/13 turbo was a 1499.8 cc 4-cylinder turbocharged Formula One engine, based on the standard BMW M10 engine introduced in 1961, powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benetton. Nelson Piquet won the FIA Formula One Driver ...

/13/1, producing an outstanding 1400 hp. This engine became wideley regarded as one of the most powerful, if not the most, powerful engine in the history of Formula 1 as well as being the most powerful engine ever built by BMW. As the base of the

BMW S14 The BMW S14 is a DOHC four-cylinder petrol engine which was used in the E30 M3, E30 320iS, and E36 320i Super Touring. It is based on the BMW M10 block and the cylinder head from the six-cylinder BMW S38 with two cylinders removed. The direct succ ...

engine of the original BMW M3, it collected many more wins. Other impressive displays of engineering involve the production of the BMW S70/2 engine, implemented in the McLaren F1, which set the world record for "world's fastest production car" on March 31, 1998. As well as achieving a Guinness Book of World Records record for longest continuous Drift (See Below "Guinness Book of World Records")

Motorcycling

Isle of Man TT

BMW enjoyed a dominant period in motorcycle racing prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

with notable achievements such as Georg Meier's victory in the Senior Race at the 1939 Isle of Man TT. Post war BMW success mainly revolved around Sidecar racing, the marque becoming the premier machinery on the Snaefell Mountain Course, the smaller

Clypse Course The Clypse Course describes a motor-cycle racing course used for the Isle of Man TT Races between 1954 and 1959. The course is long and is in the parish of Onchan in the Isle of Man. The course uses two short sections of the Snaefell Mount ...

and from 1949 until the mid 1970s the

Sidecar World Championship FIM Sidecar World Championship is the international sidecar racing championship. It is the only remaining original FIM road racing championship class that started in 1949. It was formerly named Superside when the sidecars moved from being part o ...

. BMW-powered sidecars have won numerous World Championships, notable competitors being

Rolf Steinhausen Rolf Steinhausen (born 27 July 1943 in Nümbrecht) is a German former motorcycle racer, winner of two Sidecar World Championships. Career Steinhausen made his debut in motorcycle racing in 1961. After a few incidents, in 1964 moved on to the si ...

Klaus Enders Klaus Enders (2 May 1937 in Wetzlar, Germany – 20 January 2019) was a German Sidecar racer. He was a six-time FIM Sidecar World Champion and a four-time winner of the sidecar class at the Isle of Man TT. Enders decided to retire at the end ...

and

Max Deubel Max Deubel (born 5 February 1935 in Wiehl, Germany) is a German former professional sidecar racer. He was four time FIM Sidecar World Champion and a three-time Isle of Man Sidecar TT The Sidecar TT is a motorcycle-with-sidecar road race c ...

. The pre-war dominance enjoyed in motorcycle road racing faded post-war, the main road racing campaign centered on

Production Bike Racing Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

with

Helmut Dähne Helmut Dähne (also rendered as ''Daehne'' or ''Dahne'', born 29 November 1944 in Altenmark, Germany) is a German former motorcycle racer, active not in Grand Prix races, for which the rather tall Dähne (190 cm) is not well suited, but in ...

campaigning the marque with BMW's best post-war finish until the second decade of the 21st Century being a 3rd-placed position in the 1974 Production 1000cc TT. BMW officially resumed road racing in 2009, entering the

World Superbike Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

with its BMW S1000RR. This resumption also saw its official re-introduction at the Isle of Man TT. The 2014 Isle of Man TT saw

Michael Dunlop Michael Dunlop (born 10 April 1989) is a Northern Irish professional motorcycle racer. Part of a motorcycle racing dynasty, Michael is the brother of the late William Dunlop, son of Robert and nephew of former World Champion Joey Dunlop. He ...

campaigning BMW machinery in the

Superbike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

, Superstock and

Senior TT The Senior Tourist Trophy is a motorcycle road race that takes place during the Isle of Man TT festival, an annual event traditionally held over the last week in May and the first week in June. The Senior TT is the Blue Riband event of the festi ...

s. Dunlop took victory in the three main solo races, securing BMW's first win in the

since that of

Georg Meier Georg "Schorsch" Meier (; 9 November 1910 – 19 February 1999) was a German motorcycle racer famous for being the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT, the Blue Riband race of the Isle of Man TT Races, in 1939 riding for the f ...

in 1939. Dunlop again took victory in the 2016

TT during the process of which he also set a new outright lap record for the Snaefell Mountain Course at 130.306 mph.

Peter Hickman Peter John Hickman (born 8 April 1987 in Burton-upon-Trent) is an English professional motorcycle racer and business owner for preparation of racing machines. For 2021, he competed in the British Superbike Championship class aboard a BMW M1 ...

claimed the pole and victory at the 2018 Senior TT, setting record average speeds of 135.452 mph and 131.700 mph respectively. BMW have won 25 Isle of Man TT Sidecar Races and an additional 8 victories in the solo classes. In total BMW have recorded 72 rostrum places at the

, having notched up a total of 382 finishes.

Dakar Rally

BMW motorcycles have won the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

six times. In 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1999, and 2000.

Superbikes

In 2009, BMW returned to the

with their all new superbike, the BMW S1000RR.

Touring cars

In the 1930s, BMW drivers were successful with the BMW 328 two-litre sports car, winning many races including the prestigious

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...

– a class win in 1938 and an outright win (with a streamlined body on a shortened course) in 1940 with

Huschke von Hanstein Fritz Sittig Enno Werner von Hanstein (3 January 1911 – 5 March 1996) nicknamed "Huschke von Hanstein", was a German racing driver who from the 1950s served both as Porsche's public relations manager and chief of their racing department. ...

. A Frazer Nash BMW 328 driven by A.F.P. Fane and came in fifth overall (first in its class) in the

1939 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans () was the 16th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, on 17 and 18 June 1939. The 1939 programme cover depicted the raising of six nations' flags: France, Italy, Great Br ...

. In fact, the BMW 328 proved unbeatable in international sports car races in the two-liter class. (BMW) tire, rim (motorsport)

Since the pre-war BMW 328 model, BMW had a reputation for sporty production cars. The expensive V8-powered

BMW 503 The BMW 503 is a two-door 2+2 gran turismo in both Coupé and Cabriolet form manufactured by German automaker BMW from 1956 until 1959. The company developed the 503 alongside the 507 roadster in an attempt to sell a significant number of lu ...

and

BMW 507 The BMW 507 is a roadster that was produced by BMW from 1956 until 1959. Initially intended to be exported to the United States at a rate of thousands per year, it ended up being too expensive, resulting in a total production figure of 252 cars ...

of the 1950s could not add much to this reputation, unlike the small motorcycle-engine powered

BMW 700 The BMW 700 is a small rear-engined car which was produced by BMW in various models from August 1959 to November 1965. It was the first BMW automobile with a monocoque structure. The 700 was a sales success at a time when BMW was close to fina ...

which e.g. was driven by Hans Stuck to German championships in

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

. Since the 1962 introduction of the

BMW New Class The BMW New Class (german: Neue Klasse) was a line of sedans and coupes produced by German automaker BMW between 1962 and 1977. These models ensured BMW's solvency after the company's financial crisis of the 1950s and established the identity of ...

in 1961, BMW has become one of the most successful marques in

. The original 1500 cc 4-cylinder

engine block was modified to a four-valve design which won championships in

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name re ...

. Equipped with a turbocharger, the version

/13 even won the 1983 Formula One championship. In the 1970s,

BMW M BMW M GmbH, formerly known as BMW Motorsport GmbH, is a subsidiary of BMW AG that manufactures high-performance cars. BMW M ("M" for "motorsport") was initially created to facilitate BMW's racing program, which was very successful in the 1960 ...

GmbH was formed to support the racing efforts. This led to the development of the BMW M1 and in the 1980s to the BMW M3. Having won more road races than any other BMW model in history, the E30 M3 is the world's most successful BMW road race car. Its success was emulated during the Supertouring era in the 1990s, when the 318i and 320i won several touring car national championships, including the

BTCC The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

French Supertouring Championship The Championnat de France de Supertourisme ( en, French Supertouring Championship) was a touring car racing championship organised by the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile between 1976 and 2005. The championship was contested on several ...

Super Tourenwagen Cup The Super Tourenwagen Cup, or German Supertouring Championship, was a touring car racing series held between 1994 and 1999 in Germany. The championship was established when BMW and Audi both left the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) in 19 ...

, Italian Superturismo and

Australian Super Touring Championship The Australian Super Touring Championship (formerly known as the Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship) was a CAMS-sanctioned national motor racing title for Super Touring Cars. History Super Touring was introduced into Australia in 1993 ...

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

(BTCC): BMW won the drivers' championship in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2009, 2014, 2018, and 2019 and manufacturers' championship in 1991, 1993, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The DRM (

Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as ''German Racing Championship'') or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series. His ...

) was won by Harald Ertl in a BMW 320i

Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

in 1978. In the DTM (

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide. The original DTM had resumed racing with producti ...

), the following BMW drivers have won the DTM drivers' championship: ** 1987:

Eric van der Poele Eric van de Poele (born 30 September 1961) is a Belgian racing driver and former Formula One driver. He participated in 29 Grands Prix, in 1991 and 1992. He is a three-times class winner at 24 Hours of Le Mans, and won three Formula 3000 races ...

, BMW M3 ** 1989:

Roberto Ravaglia Roberto Ravaglia (born 26 May 1957 in Venice, Italy) is a former auto racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most s ...

, BMW M3 ** 2012: Bruno Spengler, BMW M3 DTM **2014 and 2016

Marco Wittmann Marco Wittmann (born 24 November 1989) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He currently resides in Markt Erlbach. Wittmann has competed in such series as Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series wa ...

, BMW M4 DTM **2022

Sheldon van der Linde Sheldon van der Linde (born 13 May 1999) is a South African motor racing driver. He has been competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since 2019 and is currently the DTM champion, after winning his maiden title in 2022. Career van der Lind ...

, BMW M4 GT3

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

(ETCC): Since 1968, BMW won 24 drivers' championships along with several manufacturers' and teams' titles.

Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC, 1994–1998: JTCC, officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship, ja, 全日本ツーリングカー選手権, link=no), was a former touring car racing series held in Japan. ...

(JTCC): BMW ( Schnitzer) flew from Europe to Japan to compete in the JTCC and won the championship in 1995.

SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club si ...

Touring Car Series(WC): BMW won the manufacturer's championship in 2001 and Bill Auberlen, driving a Turner Motorsport BMW 325i, won the 2003 and 2004 Driver's Championships. BMW announced on 15 October 2010 that it will return to

during the 2012 season. Dr. Klaus Draeger, director of research and development of the BMW Group, who was in charge of the return to DTM racing (

), commented that "The return of BMW to the DTM is a fundamental part of the restructuring of our motorsport activities. With its increased commitment to production car racing, BMW is returning to its roots. The race track is the perfect place to demonstrate the impressive sporting characteristics of our vehicles against our core competitors in a high-powered environment. The DTM is the ideal stage on which to do this."

1987, 2005–2010: World Touring Car Championship

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

drove a Schnitzer E30 M3 to victory in the World Touring Car Championship, winning the title by a single point. 2005 saw

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tou ...

take the drivers title, and BMW take the manufacturers title, this time not with an M3, but the E46 320i. Priaulx's car raced under the banner of BMW Team UK and was run by RBM.

Schnitzer Motorsport Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team has operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and has remarkable results in touring car and sports car r ...

ran the BMW Team Germany entries, also E46 320i's, driven by Dirk Müller and

Jörg Müller Jörg Müller (, ; born 3 September 1969) is a Dutch-born German BMW factory driver. Racing career Born in Kerkrade, Netherlands, Müller won the titles in 1989 German Formula Opel Lotus Challenge and in 1989 European Formula Ford 1600. The 199 ...

. Previous WTCC winner Roberto Ravaglia also ran two cars for the BMW Team Italy/Spain, with

Alessandro Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and aga ...

and Antonio García as the drivers. BMW also took the top four places in the independent category. 2006 saw the new E90 320si, again it saw BMW take the manufacturers trophy, and again BMW Team UK/RBM driver Andy Priaulx won the drivers championship. BMW Team Germany returned with both Dirk and Jörg Müller. BMW Team Italy/Spain retained Alessandro Zanardi, but now had Marcel Costa driving the second car, later to be substituted for

Duncan Huisman Duncan Huisman (born 11 November 1971 in Doornspijk, Gelderland) is a Dutch racing driver. He won the Guia Race four times and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2005. He claimed three titles at the Dutch Touring Car Championship in 1997, 2000 and ...

. Priaulx again won the title in 2007, but BMW were beaten by SEAT in the following two seasons, despite adding Augusto Farfus to their roster. In 2010 BMW reduced their presence in the WTCC, entering only two cars under the BMW Team RBM banner, with works drivers Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus. With Chevrolet dominating most of the races, BMW struggled and finished only third in the manufacturers standings. In the drivers standings Priaulx finished the season 4th, with Farfus in 7th. Better luck was had in the Independents Trophy category though, with Sergio Hernández taking the championship behind the wheel of a BMW 320Si. BMW withdrew from the WTCC at the end of the 2010 season leaving only independents to represent BMW in the championship.

Formula Two

1950–1984

BMW pilots used the sporty pre-war BMW 328 model as the basis for early post-war efforts in the

series, a stepping stone to

; the 328 occasionally participated in F1 races. BMW ran its own team, but other smaller teams such as

Veritas Veritas is the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness, which was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess. The Greek goddess of truth is Aletheia (Ancient Greek: ). The German philosopher Martin Heidegger argues ...

, AFM, Jicey and even

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

-based EMW also used cars derived from the 328 or its two-litre six-cylinder engine. However, after the death of the initial F2 series in 1955 and its resurrection the following year, BMW's management decided not to participate in expensive open wheel racing. In 1967, the Formula 2 regulations were changed to allow 1600 cc motors, and BMW's new management was more open to the idea of open wheel racing. The

block with a radial four-valve cylinder head designed by Ludwig Apfelbeck was used for some time. In the 1968 season, the company joined with

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

, using their 100 chassis. BMW sponsored drivers

Jo Siffert Joseph Siffert (; 7 July 1936 – 24 October 1971) was a Swiss racing driver. Affectionately known as "Seppi" to his family and friends, Siffert was born in Fribourg, Switzerland, the son of a dairy owner. He initially made his name in racing ...

and

Hubert Hahne Hubert Hahne (28 March 1935 – 24 April 2019) was a racing driver from Germany. He was the older brother of Armin Hahne, as well as the uncle of Jörg van Ommen. Career He participated in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, two of ...

. For 1969, the team switched to Lola 102s, and used a new development of BMW's 1600 cc engine, dubbed the M12. Siffert and Hahne remained;

Gerhard Mitter Gerhard Karl Mitter (30 August 1935 – 1 August 1969) was a German Formula One and sportscar driver. Early life and career Mitter was born in Schönlinde (Krásná Lípa) in Czechoslovakia, but his family was expelled from there, to Leonberg ...

and

Dieter Quester Dieter Quester (born 30 May 1939 in Vienna) is an active touring car racing driver from Austria. Dieter has participated in 53 24-Hour Races. He competed in a single Formula One race in which he finished ninth. Starting with motorboats in the 1950 ...

shared a third car. Halfway through the season, BMW debuted their own chassis, the 269, at the Hockenheimring. However, Mitter was killed in the 269 during practise for the

1969 German Grand Prix The 1969 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 3 August 1969. It was race 7 of 11 in both the 1969 World Championship of Drivers and the 1969 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Twelve Formula Two ...

at the Nürburgring where F2 could race along F1 due to the length of that track. As technical failure was suspected, all BMW entries were retired. For the 1970 F2 season, BMW debuted the 270 chassis, and campaigned with Jo Siffert, Hubert Hahne, Dieter Quester, and

Jacky Ickx Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx (; born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times (second-highest of all time) and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One. He greatly contributed ...

. However, in 1971, BMW's involvement was pulled back, with the team only supplying engines for Dieter Quester's

Eifelland Eifelland was a German Formula One team, named after its German owner Günther Hennerici's caravan manufacturing company. Hennerici owned a successful business and in the beginning he saw racing as a great possibility to advertise his product. Th ...

. With a change in the F2 engine regulations to 2000 cc production-based engines, BMW went on hiatus for the 1972 season. When BMW's returned to F2 in 1973, the company again supplied only engines. Although officially backing the March team's effort for drivers

Jean-Pierre Beltoise Jean-Pierre Maurice Georges Beltoise (26 April 1937 – 5 January 2015) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver who raced for the Matra and BRM teams. He competed in 88 Grands Prix achieving a single victory, at t ...

and

Jean-Pierre Jarier Jean-Pierre Jacques Jarier (born 10 July 1946) is a French former Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for Formula One teams including Shadow, Team Lotus, Ligier, Osella and Tyrrell Racing. His best finish was third (three times) and he also to ...

, they also supplied engines for teams such as Beta Racing (with German Hans-Joachim Stuck) and Brian Lewis Racing. From 1973 to the end of Formula 2 in 1984, BMW supplied engines to the championship-winning drivers in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1982.

Formula One

BMW has a history of success in

. BMW powered cars have won 20 races. In 2006 BMW took over the

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it un ...

team and became Formula One constructors. In 2007 and 2008 the team enjoyed some success. The most recent win is a lone constructor team's victory by BMW Sauber F1 Team, on 8 June 2008, at the

Canadian Grand Prix The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a spor ...

with

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...

driving. Achievements include: * Driver championship: 1 (1983) * Constructor championship: 0 (Runner-up 2002, 2003, 2007) * Fastest laps: 33 * Grand Prix wins: 20 * Podium finishes: 76 * Pole positions: 33 BMW was an engine supplier to Williams, Benetton, Brabham, and Arrows. Notable drivers who have started their Formula One careers with BMW include

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech ...

, and Sebastian Vettel.

1980–1987

In 1980, BMW announced their development of a turbocharged motor for the Brabham F1 team. The

engine first raced in the 1982 season. The M12/13 engine won at the

1982 Canadian Grand Prix The 1982 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 13 June 1982. It was the eighth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship. This was the first Canadian Grand Prix to be held in June, the organis ...

at the hands of

Nelson Piquet Nelson Piquet Souto Maior (, born 17 August 1952) is a Brazilian retired racing driver and businessman. Since his retirement, Piquet, a three-time World Champion, has been ranked among the greatest Formula One (F1) drivers in various motorspo ...

;

Riccardo Patrese Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from to . He became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and ...

was the team's other driver. The following season, BMW supplied engines to the ATS team; the factory-backed Brabham took four victories on its way to Piquet's championship win. Two more victories came in 1984, and BMW added Arrows to its list of teams who received its engines. In 1985, Piquet's Brabham, who was now teamed with

Marc Surer Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951 in Arisdorf) is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 Septembe ...

, managed only one win. In 1986, BMW started to supply engines for the new Benetton team, who earned the only win for a BMW engine at the hands of

Gerhard Berger Gerhard Berger (born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. He competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship ( and ), both times driving for Ferrari. He won ten Grands Prix, ach ...

. However, the factory-backed effort at Brabham met with little success with the return of Patrese and

Derek Warwick Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born 27 August 1954) is a British former professional racing driver from England, who lives in Jersey. He raced for many years in Formula One, collecting four podiums but never winning a Grand Prix. He did, however, ...

. At the end of the 1986 season, BMW announced it would drop out of Formula 1 at the end of the 1987 season. BMW's M12/13 engine, however, continued to be used, because Megatron bought the rights to the engines for the Arrows team. The

Ligier Ligier (() is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Champ ...

team was also supplied with the engine for the 1987 season. Following the 1988 season, turbocharged motors were banned, and Arrows ended its use of the former BMW engine. The BMW M12/13 turbocharged straight-4 engine was famous during its life for being the first Formula 1 engine capable of in racing trim, although it was capable of nearly for qualifying with modification of its boost. This engine had a bore and stroke of x , giving a displacement of 1,499.79 cc. Maximum crankshaft speed was 11,200 rpm. Peak power b.m.e.p. was in the region of 1,000 lbs/sq.in.

1997–2005: Return to Formula One via Le Mans

In 1997, BMW announced that it had formed a partnership with Williams Grand Prix Engineering in order to provide V10 engines in 2000. The initial development of this partnership was BMW's sports car effort. Chassis built by Williams powered by a

BMW M70 The BMW M70 is a naturally-aspirated, SOHC, V12 petrol engine, which was BMW's first production V12 and was produced from 1987 to 1996. The BMW S70/2 engine, largely unrelated to the M70 and S70B56 engines, is a naturally-aspirated, DOHC, V12 ...

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The f ...

s were entered by long-time partner team

. The rather unsuccessful 1998 model was improved, and the efforts culminated in BMW's victory at the

1999 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 67th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1999. The race had a large number of entries in the fastest Le Mans Prototype classes, with Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lola Cars, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, ...

with the

BMW V12 LMR The BMW V12 LMR is a Le Mans Prototype built for sports car racing from 1999 to 2000. The car was built through an alliance between BMW Motorsport and Williams F1, and was the successor to the failed BMW V12 LM of 1998. It is famous for earning ...

. Additional success came in the 2000 ALMS series before the cars were retired from racing. Following the win, the second stage of BMW's partnership with Williams began, with BMW developing the powerful E41 V10 for Formula 1. The new Williams-BMW debuted in the 2000 season, driven by

Ralf Schumacher Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races. Schumacher began kart ...

and

. In 2001, Schumacher took 3 wins and newcomer

took his first win. A lone win for Schumacher followed in 2002, but Williams-BMW returned to success in 2003, with two wins each for Schumacher and Montoya. Montoya was the lone winner in 2004. In 2005, disputes led to a rapid decline in the partnership of BMW and Williams. Constant disagreements over the cause of technical failures in the car led BMW to discontinue development of the P84/5

V10 A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been pr ...

as the season progressed, leading to no victories for the team's new driver line-up of Mark Webber and

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver. Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...

. Consequently, the car finished a distant 5th in the constructors' championship.

2006–2009: BMW Sauber F1

Wanting a split from their failing relationship with Williams, BMW's executives decided that adding an F1 team to the company's motorsport division, thus removing the necessity for a partner, was the only viable solution. Enticed by Sauber's new multimillion-dollar research and development facility, which included an advanced wind tunnel setup, BMW choose to offer a buyout to Peter Sauber rather than scramble to build the facilities themselves. Sauber took the offer, and the buyout went through; the team began racing under the BMW-Sauber F1 name in . The team being split between the Sauber facility at Hinwil, Switzerland and BMW in Munich. The BMW Sauber F1.06 was relatively successful, earning the team fifth place in the constructors championship. BMW opted to retain BMW Williams driver

for 2006 alongside contracted

driver

Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve ( born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various o ...

. Villeneuve was later replaced by Polish driver

after disagreements between Villeneuve and the team. BMW's 2007 season improved on results from the previous year. While the car was still inferior to both the Ferrari and McLaren, it outclassed the rest of the field. BMW scored points in every race, ending the season second in the constructors championship (after McLaren's disqualification) with over 100 points. In 2008 BMW won their first race at the

. The team also achieved several podium finishes like Heidfeld's at the first race of the season in Australia and a second place for Kubica in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. In July 2009, BMW announced that it would withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 2009 season. The team was sold back to the previous owner, Peter Sauber, who kept the BMW part of the name for the 2010 season due to issues with the

Concorde Agreement The Concorde Agreement is a contract between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Formula One teams and the Formula One Group which dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races, and how the television revenues and ...

. The team has since dropped BMW from their name starting in 2011.

Formula E

BMW will join Formula E as an official manufacturer for

season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

. The German performance car giant has confirmed that it will build a brand new powertrain to be used by the Andretti team in the 2018/19 season. The team's drivers for the season will be

António Félix da Costa António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team and the 2019–20 Formula E Drivers' Champion. He won the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Thr ...

and Alexander Sims.

DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters)

2012–

BMW returned to the DTM for the 2012 season with the M3 DTM, which is based (visually at least) on the contemporary

BMW E92 The fifth generation of the BMW 3 Series range of compact executive cars is designated under the model codes E90 (saloon), E91 (estate, marketed as 'Touring'), E92 (coupé) and E93 (convertible). The model was introduced in December 2004, and pr ...

M3 Coupe. Three teams lined up on the grid for BMW as follows: Canadian driver Bruno Spengler recorded the first DTM win for BMW in 20 years at the second race of the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

season, held at the

Lausitzring The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bo ...

circuit in Germany. Spengler then went on to claim the 2012 drivers championship. BMW claimed the 2012 manufacturers championship with 346 points, 11 points ahead of Audi and 17 points ahead of Mercedes-Benz. BMW Team Schnitzer earned the 2012 teams championship title. All three of these titled were clinched by BMW at the last race of the season at Hockenheim.

2013–2020

BMW clinched its second consecutive manufacturers' championship in 2013 at the season finale at the Hockenheimring, after a close fight with

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

all season. Drivers' honors went to Audi driver

Mike Rockenfeller Mike Rockenfeller (born 31 October 1983), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver and was an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM and the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for ...

; teams' to Audi Sport Team Phoenix. BMW claimed a spectacular 1-2-3 podium sweep at the Red Bull Ring in Salzburg, Austria with Bruno Spengler leading home

and Timo Glock. BMW also locked out the first two rows in qualifying for the finale at Hockenheim. BMW secured 51 total DTM victories with the BMW M3, and switched to the new M4 DTM for the 2014 season onwards.

Formula BMW

In the 1990s, the

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young k ...

was introduced as feeder series, with small cars powered by BMW K motorcycle engines. Former drivers were e.g.

and

Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...

. Formula BMW has since expanded to encompass four championships across three continents. The German series was followed by a south-east Asian championship in 2003, and series in the United Kingdom and the United States were launched the following year. The UK and German championships will be merged into a new pan-European series in 2008.

Le Mans

1939 saw the BMW 328 finish first in its class (fifth overall) in the

completing 236 laps. After 33 years in 1972, a BMW entered the competition for the first time by

with the BMW E9, BMW 2800CS. In the following years, BMW became a common contender in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, represented by private teams racing BMW race cars in the competition from 1972 till 1989, and from 1993 till 2000 and by teams using BMW engines, most successful the McLaren F1 GTR who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 with a BMW M70, BMW S70 6.1L V12 engine. Also BMW Motorsport started with the BMW E9, BMW 3.0 CSL (1973), BMW E9, BMW 3.5 CSL (1976), BMW M1 (1980, 1981), McLaren F1 GTR (1996, 1997), BMW V12 LM (1998),

. The latter car, designed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering and entered by Schnitzer Motorsport, won the

overall against factory competition from Audi, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and others. American Le Mans Series – BMW has won three (2001, 2010, 2011) GT Team Championships and GT Automobile Manufacturer titles. Twice (2010, 2011) with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Team RLL in the Crowne Plaza V8 powered M3 GT coupe and once (2001) with the BMW Motorsport team in the V8 powered M3 GTR.

Endurance racing

* Nürburgring – BMW won the 24 Hours Nürburgring 19 times and the 1000km Nürburgring twice (1976 and 1981). * A BMW works team E36 320d was the first diesel-powered overall winner ever at the 24 Hours Nürburgring. * 24 Hours of Daytona – BMW has won five times (1976, 2011, 2013, 2019, 2020) * Spa 24 Hours – BMW won 21 times * McLaren F1 GTR – Successful mid-1990s GT racing car with a BMW designed engine. It won the BPR Global GT Series in 1995 and 1996 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1995.

Rally

* RAC Rally – The BMW 328, 328 sport car won this event in 1939. * Tour de Corse – The BMW M3, BMW M3 E30 won this event in 1987.

''Guinness Book of World Records''

On May 11, 2013, BMW placed itself in the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' for longest drift after deciding that they wanted the record "back in the US". Johan Shwartz achieved a 51.3 mile continuous drift on a skidpad in the BMW F10 M5, ultimately breaking Abdo Feghali's world record of 11,180 metres (approximately 6.95 miles) that was achieved in a Chevrolet Camaro, in Abu Dhabi.

Other events

BMW had various touring and sportscar successes throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s following its exit from Formula One. In 1986, BMW North America also ran the BMW GTP in the IMSA GT Championship, with little success. Since 1987, The Kumho BMW Championship has also existed, which is a BMW-exclusive motorsport championship. It is operated and run in the UK, with some races occasionally taking part in the Europe mainland. 2005 saw the BMW Challenge join as a class within the Kumho BMW Championship only to leave a year later to become a standalone UK Championship called The BMW Production Championship. In 2008, a split between the committee and the organising club (CTCRC) saw it lose its championship status and a breakaway PBMW Cup was formed. Automatic Racing had entered a BMW M6 into the 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series season, driven by an all American team consisting of Jep Thorton, Tom Long, Joe Varde and David Russell. Turner Motorsport entered a BMW M6 for the 2010 season, followed by two BMW M3s from 2011-2013. They have racked up six Rolex GT wins and 24 top ten finishes in the GT class, including rare double class wins for the GT M3 and GS M3 at the Circuit of the Americas round in 2013.

Pictures

Image:Adolf Brudes im BMW 328 Mille Miglia am 14.08.1976.jpg, The BMW 328, winner of

in 1938. Image:MitterG-BMW-F2-1969-08-01.jpg, Gerhard Mitter in a BMW F2 ('69) Image:Amon, Chris - BMW 3,5 CSL (1973-07-08 Sp).jpg, Chris Amon in a BMW 3.0 CSL ('73) Image:Kelleners, Helmut - BMW Koepchen (1973-07-06 Sp).jpg, Helmut Kelleners in a BMW BMW New Class, 2002 Image:BMW GTP.jpg, An IMSA GT Championship, IMSA GTP BMW GTP ('86) Image:BMW M3 Gruppe A DTM 2,3 1987 vr TCE.jpg, A BMW M3 Group A DTM ('87) Image:1980-05-24 Nelson Piquet im BMW M1, Nürburgring Südkehre.jpg, The BMW M1. Image:BMW 320i WTCC 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed 2005.jpg, A 320i WTCC 2005 Image:Jutta Kleinschmidt Dakar2007.jpg, The X-Raid BMW X3 at Paris-Dakar Rally Image:BMW Z4 M Coupe white vl EMS.jpg, The Z4 M Coupe File:2009BMWM3GT2.jpg, BMW M3 GT2 car competing in 2009 American Le Mans Series season, ALMS

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bmw In Motorsport BMW in motorsport,