BMW In Talks With Prospective LMDh Customers
BMW opens door for customer M Hybrid V8s, possibly for as early as 2026...
Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA
BMW M Motorsport is in talks with prospective customer teams to run its M Hybrid V8 according to motorsport boss Andreas Roos, who indicated that a final decision has not yet been taken if it will ultimately make LMDh cars available to privateers.
The German manufacturer, which was one the four founding LMDh brands in 2023, has long considered the possibility of customer car sales.
Currently, Porsche is the only LMDh manufacturer to offer its prototype to privateer teams.
The talks at BMW have come in parallel to its factory IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP program being up for tender for the 2026 season.
“There’s interest from customer teams,” Roos told Sportscar365. “This is also what we’re evaluating in the whole picture.”
When asked if they could be ready to supply a car to a customer by as early as the 2026 season, Roos said: “I don’t want to say yes and I don’t want to say no.”
He added: “It’s like always. In the past, discussions like this… normally started after Le Mans and now there’s more manufacturers, more competition, everything gets a bit earlier.
“That’s why also these discussions started already.
“I’m happy that also discussions have started with one or the other concerning customer cars.
“Because also there, at one stage there’s a deadline where you will not manage to do it in a proper way anymore.”
Roos stressed that should BMW go down the customer car route for its LMDh car, it would want to do things to its usual standards for customers as seen with its various GT platforms.
“For us it’s also important that if we want to do it, we want to do it in the proper way,” he said.
“We are in talks and then we will see. But it has to make sense for 360 degrees. It must make sense for us on the BMW side but it also must also make sense for the potential customer.
“It [must] be a combination that makes sense for both.”
The prospects of a customer BMW effort would almost certainly be the for the WeatherTech Championship only, as there is unlikely to be any available slots for additional Hypercar entrants in the FIA World Endurance Championship once Genesis enters next year.
It will be followed by Ford and McLaren in 2027, which would surpass the current 40-car maximum grid capacity imposed by championship organizers.
