BMW's press language is sooooo cumbersome. *sigh*
Parsing this is tough, but there are some interesting bits here:
- It sounds like they'll be fielding an entry in GTE-Pro.
- They said, "a new GT car", which is interesting; sounds like it won't be derived from the M6 GT3/GTLM car.
- It's great to hear BMW acknowledging the boom in GT4 racing going on right now.
- BMW is bringing a factory team to IWSC.
That last one is really intriguing.
"Starting with the 2018 season, we want to further expand our activities in GT racing and compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship."
I wonder what this means for RLL? The M6 has had a really rough inaugural year. I get a sense from recent interviews that the team's morale is starting to suffer. They're putting on a good show, but the frustration is starting to leak through. If BMW shows up with a factory team to compete against RLL, how are they going to take that? They've been carrying the BMW torch for 8 years. What happens to the drivers?
So many questions!