2018 BMW M8 GTE Completes First Track Shakedown

The highly anticipated 'M' version of the upcoming BMW 8-Series, which is also the brand’s new GTE challenger, successfully completed its first proper race track shakedown session last week at the Lausitzring circuit, Germany.

Driven by factory drivers Martin Tomczyk and Maxime Martin over a period of three days, the M8 GTE, which was first rolled out on July 1 at BMW's Dingolfing plant near Munich, will be participating in numerous competitions next year like the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC), and the 24 hours of Daytona.

“To see the BMW M8 GTE on the racetrack makes me very proud. Everyone involved has done a magnificent job in recent months to allow us to reach this milestone in the development of our new flagship for the GT racing scene,” said BMW Motorsport director Jens Marquardt.

“I had great fun with the car. The BMW M8 GTE is good to drive from the outset, and it is easy for us drivers to work out the way it handles, which is important. We got a lot of kilometres under our belt, and gathered a lot of data. We also took our first steps with regard to performance, which is by no means a given at a first test. We will obviously work more intensively on that at the coming tests, and will build on the strong basis we established here at the Lausitzring,” said Tomczyk.

According to BMW, the M8 GTE will undergo many more tests at racetracks in Europe and North America to ensure it is ideally prepared for its race debut in January.