The BMW M3 Touring 24H was once a pipe dream — a rendering created as a lighthearted joke for fans on social media. Now, that vision has taken shape as the car begins its quest toward a race debut at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in May.

While the project has come together over the past year, its origins trace back further than many might expect.

“Actually, it started in 2022 when the road car, the Touring, came out,” said Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos. “Already when the car came out, there was a huge community loving this car. Then we started discussing and said normally we should build a race car out of it, but to be honest, there is no regulation where a touring version could fit into, because in normal GT3 racing you have two-door cars and not a Touring version.

“Then we always thought about what to do, and we did the April Fool last year when we basically created renderings — and the car didn’t exist. It was just renderings that we showed last year, and the feedback from our community was huge, with so much positive reaction about the car. Then we said, ‘Hey, now the community is reacting so positively about it — it’s pure positive feedback — so let’s think about if we can do it.’

“Some people started, and we said, okay, it should be possible to take the Touring and basically put all the GT3 technology underneath the hood. So we started, and actually in a short period of time — only about eight months — it took us to build the car. Now this weekend was its first race. The feedback after revealing the real car has been amazing. We expected very good and positive feedback because the April Fool was so positive and led us to think about building the car, but I think it was much more than we could have expected.”

As for the driver lineup, BMW has assembled a formidable quartet. Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde, Connor De Phillippi, and Neil Verhagen bring not only a strong group of BMW factory talent, but also drivers with extensive experience at the Nürburgring — the “Green Hell.”

“We have so many good drivers in our lineup, and some of them have already won the Nürburgring not just once, but several times,” Roos said. “At the end, it was very easy for us. We have four cars running with factory drivers, and we just matched who fits best together. We basically placed them in the cars, and I think all four entries are super strong in terms of driver lineups.”

The car will return to action in the coming weeks when NLS3 kicks off in April. Qualifying is set for April 18–19 as preparation continues for the 24-hour enduro.