The World Endurance Championship, of which the Le Mans 24 hours race is a part of, seems to be gathering a very diverse bunch of vehicles, even within the confines of the same class. We know have diesels, hybrids and front-wheel drive cars, and in the not too distant future we may even have hydrogen fuel cell ones.
According to a report published by Autocar, BMW is eying the competition and if it does enter, then it will do so using a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. It won’t participate in the top LMP1 class, as it would be trailing the established entrants, but it may make room for itself lower down.
The rumor that BMW was downplayed by Autosport, though, which quotes BMW motorsport boss Jens Marquardt who said “LMP1 is, at the moment, the big hybrid thing, and in there we wouldn’t be the leader. We wouldn’t even be the fast follower, we would be a slow follower now, as the fifth [after Audi, Toyota, Porsche and Nissan] manufacturer joining in.”
He actually kind of denied the rumor altogether saying that “with our targets, I don’t see this really being something that we think about in a way that we are working on anything in that respect as a programme.”
BMW is still a familiar name at Le Mans, having participated on dozens of occasions and actually winning the 1999 race with the V12 LMR (pictured) in its inaugural outing.
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