BMW's Le Mans Hypercar Ready For The Big Time

Last year, BMW Motorsport officially merged with BMW M, and we speculated that a possible outcome of this merger would be a new Le Mans hypercar. Our suspicions were confirmed a couple of months later, and in the following months, teasers of the new racecar started emerging from Munich. The first showed enormous kidney grilles and the second was no different, but both of these were sketches rather than photographs. That has all changed now, as BMW's Motorsport division has provided our first real-life look at the car via a teaser on Twitter. Therein, the German automaker has also disclosed that the car will be revealed in full on June 6.

This teaser image reveals that the final design is staying true to that of the sketches, with those enlarged kidneys discernable with some squinting. We can also see complex LED lighting, a roof scoop above the narrow cockpit, and a large wing. Some BMW tricolor stripes are also evident, but it's quite possible that this clean color scheme will be drowned out by sponsor decals when the car enters competition. But back to the kidneys. Despite their enormous size, they work coherently with the rest of the car, which shows that BMW may yet be able to create something genuinely beautiful from its unconventional new design language. Either way, we're glad to see BMW expanding its motorsport program.

Regardless of what it looks like, what really matters is how this thing performs on the track. It will be facing stiff competition from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Cadillac, Aston Martin, Peugeot, Toyota, and more. As with a number of other teams, BMW will draw on the experience of famed outfit Dallara. Our hope - unfounded as it may be - is that BMW uses the hybrid technology and chassis-building techniques to create its own roadgoing hypercar in the same vein as the F1-inspired Mercedes-AMG ONE. It's unlikely though, and we'll probably just have to continue making do with "everyday" cars like the BMW M4 and M5.