BMW is kicking off a new video series to highlight the development of the M2 Racing. Bavaria’s new entry-level race car may carry the “M2” name, but there’s a reason it sounds so different from the G87. The engine soundtrack you hear during track testing doesn’t come from the road car’s S58 engine. Instead, engineers have fitted a tuned B48. Yes, there’s a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine under the hood.
Despite losing two cylinders and one liter of displacement, the M2 Racing still delivers an aggressive exhaust note. That’s largely thanks to a motorsport-specific exhaust system with a racing catalytic converter. Dubbed the “little brother of the M4 GT4 EVO,” the car has already racked up around 20,000 kilometers (12,427 miles), with another 10,000 km (6,213 miles) of testing scheduled to wrap up by the end of June. The big test will come at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring ahead of its official race debut in the 2026 season.
In the meantime, BMW’s new official video gives us our first look at the M2 Racing in action. We’re told the race car is much closer to the street-legal version than the M4 GT3 EVO is to its road-going counterpart. That’s significant because it means lower running costs during the racing season, thanks to the many shared components between the two M2 variants.
The development program included 17 tests with three different prototypes: an application car at the Munich factory, an application car for track testing, and an endurance car for component validation. The two application cars were used to evaluate which parts from the street car could be carried over and which needed to be adapted. The endurance car focused on lifetime testing for durability and reliability of the racing components.
The M2 Racing made its public debut during the DTM season opener in Oschersleben and is set to go racing in 2026. BMW M Motorsport has priced it at €98,000, with sales starting in late June and deliveries expected before the end of the year. Like the road-going M2, the race car is built at the San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico, where the roll cage and all racing-specific components are installed. Before customer deliveries, each car undergoes a rollout to ensure everything is functioning properly.
Video: BMW M / YouTube
