What you see here is the race car BMW will use in the DTM championship for 2019. For that reason, it has a four-cylinder engine which complies to the new Class 1 Regulation. Okay, perhaps a little background story.
Some of you may not realise that Germany’s premier tin-top racing series, DTM, and Japan’s top-flight race series, SuperGT, finalised this new Class 1 Regulation back in June that will make the two equal to each other. During that announcement, there was even talk of joint races (one race in Europe and Asian circuits each), but that has yet to be confirmed with series’ promoters for DTM and SuperGT saying that it will be announced at a later time.
Following this, the current V8 units used in DTM will be replaced with 4-cylinder, 2-litre turbo engines. Power goes north by up to 100bhp for a total of 620bhp. However, SuperGT will only officially adopt the new regulation in 2020.
As for BMW, the M4 DTM completed its first kilometres with works driver Bruno Spengler driving. You can listen to the sound off this race machine by clicking on the link below, and we must admit that it does sound pretty good.
“After my first kilometres with the new DTM engine, I can hardly wait for next season,” said Spengler. “I can just imagine how much fun it will be to take to the track with so much BMW Turbo Power. You can feel the extra horsepower. We will put on even more of a show for the fans in 2019. The amount of time at full-throttle is reduced – but the top speed is higher than before. We will have to work even harder at the wheel.”
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt added, “Our first few kilometres of the Class 1 era went very positively. We are happy with all the functional tests. The new turbo sounds awesome. However, its most impressive attribute is its efficiency – despite being considerably more powerful than its predecessor.”
“BMW Turbo Power has enjoyed success in motor racing for almost 50 years. In the first year with a BMW turbo engine, back in 1969, Dieter Quester was immediately crowned European touring car champion with the BMW 2002 TI. In 1973, the BMW 2002 turbo became the first German production automobile to feature a turbocharger.”
