BMW and LMDh: What lies ahead of them?

BMW cars are joining Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh) as they participate in prototype racing in the next two years. With that, BMW’s debut will provide both Audi and Porsche with another German competitor. This will enable BMW to have even stronger relations with their automobile operations in the United States thanks to the LMDh championship.

LMDh started with the DPi or the Daytona Prototype International which gathers cars to showcase their best features like engines as well as electronics. This racing is the display of car champions. It gained popularity and reputation because of this professional racing. Despite this, the launch of electrified vehicles impacted how the DPi process is made. Major changes would affect the rules for car developers who produce racing cars.

Now that BMW revealed why it is already taking part with the LMDh, here are some of their reasons why they opted in doing so. LMDh offers a cheaper cost as compared to the LMH or LMP1 racing. There will only be a limited $350,000 hybrid powertrain and the chassis is set to $409,000 under current IMSA rules. In comparison, the Porsche 919 program will cost $197 million per year. Another reason is that it provides an avenue to advertise an ever-expanding selection of plug-in hybrid cars. With that, there will be more opportunities for them to further their reach to the same car enthusiasts market.

Mike Krack, Head of BMW Motorsport, mentioned that through LMDh, BMW will have more exposure in the US market. Even though BMW has always kept up with their clients for the past years, they do not confirm yet whether they consider having a hypercar or not. Krack also claims that the mentioned product will need to incur an additional budget especially in keeping its specs and costs.