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BMW Motorsport GmbH will be amalgamated with BMW’s famed high-performance M sub-brand to create a new-look, integrated, racing division at the firm.
The Race can reveal that from the beginning of next month the new combined entity will encompass BMW’s racing division, which is expected to concentrate on customer motorsport in the short-term.
This will mean a key focus on the M4 GT3, which will race with selected customer teams in 2022.
The new organisation will be headed up by Mike Krack, who is presently the head of race and test engineering, operations and organisation at BMW Motorsport.
Krack, who has worked for BMW since joining from rival Porsche in 2014, will take up the position of head of racing at the newly formed division.
He began his career with BMW in 1998 before having spells at Sauber, Kolles, Hitech Racing and Porsche.
BMW is known to have been evaluating its future motorsport organisational structure and strategy since last autumn.
That was when it confirmed the departure of its long-time motorsports director Jens Marquardt to a position heading up BMW’s Pilot Plant for prototype construction. He was temporarily replaced by CEO of the M brand, Markus Flasch.
Krack will now report to Flasch, who retains his position heading up the BMW M brand – which was originally created as BMW’s motorsport programme.
The BMW M division was founded in 1972 and had an original brief to complement BMW’s road car range with sporting models.
The restructure has its roots in when BMW AG board member for development Klaus Frohlich retired last year.
This appeared to trigger several changes in direction for BMW AG and the plans for restructuring the shape of its future motorsport activities.
BMW’s factory and factory-affiliated racing programmes have been dramatically scaled down in recent seasons.
Its World Endurance Championship programme run by the MTEK organisation was curtailed in 2019 after a single season, while its Formula E campaign will run to three full seasons in conjunction with ever-present entry holder Andretti Autosport.
The Race revealed last month that Andretti will continue in Formula E with a BMW powertrain for the final season of Gen2 competition in 2021/22 after BMW’s official exit.
BMW also left the DTM at the end of last season, having been present in the German touring car series in its current iteration since 2012 and won three titles.
In addition to BMW’s final season of Formula E in 2021, a pair of BMW M8s are being run by the factory BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan squad at IMSA’s four Endurance Cup races (Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Petit Le Mans).
The Boutsen Ginion team is expected to compete once again in the SRO organised GT World Challenge series this year with a BMW M6 GT3.
