BMW confirms its partnership with RLL will continue next year
BMW Motorsport has confirmed that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will continue operating its factory racing programme next year, as the German marque takes on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with its all new BMW M8 GTE.
BMW Team RLL engineers are at BMW Motorsports base in Munich, preparing the build of the first US-bound M8 GTE. The car will arrive at the team’s headquarters in Hilliard, Ohio, in Late November, where it will undergo private testing ahead of its first IMSA sanctioned test a Daytona in December.
The 2018 season will mark BMW Team RLL’s tenth consecutive year in IMSA competition, in a partnership with BMW dating back to the M3 GT in the American Le Mans Series in 2009. The extension sees the contract reach a decade, with the M8 GTE following builds and developments of the M3 GT, Z4 GTE and M6 GTLM racecars. This year, BMW Team RLL finished runner up in the GT Le Mans championship, with four class wins.
“Coming off one of our most successful years together with BMW, I am very pleased that we will continue to work together in the years to come to gain more victories and championships for BMW,” said team principal Bobby Rahal.
“An enhanced RLL organisation for 2018 will no doubt help in the development and running of the new BMW M8 GTE, which surely is one of the most exciting new cars of 2018,” he added.