BMW’s future LMDh efforts are moving forward. Today, the BMW Motorsport division announced that the chassis for the two prototype cars will be produced in close collaboration with manufacturer Dallara. The first BMW LMDh race car will debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA series) from the 2023 season.
Dallara is one of the four constructors licensed to build the next generation of LMP2 chassis out of which an LMDh must be developed. Just last month, Dallara also announced that it will continue its relationship with Cadillac for LMDh racing. The contract was signed on Wednesday at the Dallara headquarters in Varano de Melegari (ITA).
“In Dallara, we are delighted to have found a partner for our LMDh project that shares our passion, professionalism and huge ambition in motorsport and, like us, is fully committed to the goal of writing a new success story in the history of BMW M Motorsport from 2023,” said Markus Flasch, CEO of BMW M GmbH, during his trip to Italy. He took the opportunity, along with Mike Krack, Head of BMW M Motorsport, and Maurizio Leschiutta, head of the LMDh project, to check out the outstanding development and test capabilities that Dallara has to offer.
No technical details of the BMW LMDh, including the configuration of engine it will use, were revealed today. In the future LMDh, the IMSA rules call for manufacturers to supply their own engines capable of up to 470kW, paired with a 50kW electric motor supplied by Bosch. The hybrid system will have a total output of 500kW or around 670 horsepower. The sequential gearbox will come from Xtrac while the lithium-ion traction battery is supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering.
The current IMSA rules cap the price of the hybrid powertrain to $350,000 and the chassis to $409,000. A single LMDh is expected to be around $1.5 to 1.6 million.
