- BMW M Motorsport will race the M3 Touring 24H at the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours.
- The wagon racer shares its mechanical package with the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
- BMW will run the car in SPX class, with Schubert Motorsport handling the programme.
What started as a throwaway gag on social media is now heading for one of motorsport’s least forgiving stages. BMW M Motorsport has confirmed the M3 Touring 24H will line up for the 2026 24 Hours of Nurburgring, turning last year’s April Fools’ post into a proper race programme.
The high-roof racer will make its first competitive appearance even sooner, with a debut planned for the second round of the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie before returning for the 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers and the main event on May 16 to 17.
From meme to machine
BMW says the idea had been floating around internally not long after the road-going M3 Touring launched in 2022. But it was the response to a fake GT version posted last April 1st that pushed the project over the line.
According to BMW, that post reached more than one million users and generated over 1.6 million views, with engagement well above normal levels for its motorsport channels. By mid-2025, the brand had green-lit the car, and engineers had the thing built within eight months.
Same race bones, longer roof
Underneath the stretched bodywork, the M3 Touring 24H shares its technical package with the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
BMW says the wagon racer uses the same race-car hardware, but wrapped in a body derived from the M3 Touring shell.
That means it ends up 200mm longer than the M4 GT3 Evo and, rear wing included, 32mm taller. Mechanically, though, BMW says the two are identical.
The car will be run by Schubert Motorsport in the SPX class, keeping it out of direct combat with the three M4 GT3 Evo entries BMW expects to fight for outright honours in SP9. Tyres will come from Yokohama, also the supplier for Schubert’s #77 M4 GT3 Evo.
Leaning into fan service
BMW is leaning hard into the crowd-pleasing side of this one. The livery for the preparatory races includes selected comments pulled from reactions to the original April Fools’ post, with another special design planned for the 24-hour race itself.
Driver duties will be handled by BMW M works drivers Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde, Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen. Klingmann summed up the project neatly: “It has to be said clearly that the car may have started as an April Fools’ joke, but it has become an absolutely top-class and competitive race car.”
Race wagons are usually the stuff of internet comment sections. This one, rather gloriously, is heading for the Green Hell.
