The Third in a Series Highlighting the New Cars That Will Make a Major Impact on IMSA in 2023. Take a Closer Look at BMW’s GTP Entry.
By Tony DiZinno
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What makes the BMW M Hybrid V8 special? Start with the engine.
“We went into a Walmart and went to the engine section,” laughed Maurizio Leschiutta, LMDh project leader for BMW M Motorsport.
The lighthearted reply during a roundtable discussion among all four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship project managers for the new Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class came in part because IMSA’s technical regulations allow for a range of options.
In BMW’s case, using off-the-shelf technology was one way to help reduce production development time in a compressed timeline given its mid-year rollout of the car.
“We had to combine three different things. We had to combine brand DNA, we had to combine what was best suited to the regulations of LMDh, and we had to combine what was realistic given the time constraints,” Leschiutta explained.
“We came up with a V-8 twin-turbo architecture, which is an architecture we use in our M5 Competition road car. We knew that we had to go to the turbocharged version because of the displacement to make sure we could easily meet the power requirements, which are mandated, or limited by the regulations, and converged on the solution for our engine for the LMDh car. It arrived from an existing powerplant so we could cut some of the development time.”
The P66/3 eight-cylinder turbo engine comes with a single-source supplementary electric drive common to all four manufacturers. The combustion engine is based on the DTM unit used in the BMW M4 DTM in 2017 and 2018.
Producing approximately 640 horsepower with approximately 650 Nm (Newton meters) of torque, BMW also is drawing on its experience gained in Formula E, the FIA-sanctioned electric racing series in which it’s competed for several years either as a factory or customer-supporting program.
This factory GTP effort, operated by BMW M Team RLL, will field the BMW M Hybrid V8 as the manufacturer returns to top-flight prototype racing for the first time in more than 20 years.
BMW will focus solely on IMSA in 2023 before adding the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2024. Conveniently, 2024 will mark the 25-year anniversary of the BMW V12 LMR winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in 1999.
BMW, which captured back-to-back GT Le Mans (GTLM) class wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2019 and 2020 with the M8 GTE, is rewarding its GT talent with GTP drives.
One said talent is Connor De Phillippi, who had the honor to debut the BMW M Hybrid V8 on its initial rollout back in July at Varano de Melegari, near the Dallara factory. He called it “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
De Phillippi, who along with full-season co-driver Nick Yelloly shift into IMSA’s top class for the first time, explained the learning curve and cool technical angle with the hybrid system.
“For me, the most interesting thing is the braking process,” De Phillippi said. “We’re using the MGU (hybrid motor generation unit) on the deceleration side. So, it’s learning how to integrate the MGU braking with the actual brakes themselves.
“It’s not just the traditional race car, where you hit the brakes itself and engage when you slow down. You also have the MGU motor to slow it down. It’s been a huge learning process.”
Both Leschiutta and De Phillippi stressed the tight time frame to go from a rollout in the summer to a race debut the end of January. It’s a testament to the longstanding BMW and RLL partnership, which dates to 2009, that this could come together so quickly without a need for either to learn each other’s tendencies.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing has upped its game too. It recently moved into a brand new, 115,000-square-foot racing headquarters in Zionsville, Indiana, that brings its IMSA and IndyCar programs together under one roof. The BMW program had long been stationed in Columbus, Ohio.
Testing has had its challenges, but progress made at two IMSA-sanctioned tests at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Daytona International Speedway this fall, coupled with private testing, leaves the team cautiously optimistic for the Rolex 24 in a few weeks.
The initial goal is to simply finish the Rolex 24. It’s beyond that where the legacy of the BMW M Hybrid V8 will develop, and both Leschiutta and De Phillippi noted, it’s the bond of people that have already brought BMW so far in a short time.
“It’s equally interesting and equally satisfying,” Leschiutta said. “Once we reach Daytona, I tell the folks on our project team and our partners, we’ll be amazed at the amount of road we’ve covered since we started.”