BMW Motorsport have today confirmed that they will enter the DTM in 2012, after previously agreeing to enter the championship alongside Mercedes-Benz and Audi in principle earlier this year.
Well, a new manufacturer entering a championship is usually never bad news.
But now we begin the long wait to see what lasting effect this will have on BMW's commitment to the World Touring Car Championship.
Those in the know can't believe that BMW will leave a market they seem to have a massive influence over. If you look around all major touring car programmes across the world (Europe and Asia mainly) that have followed the WTCC's Super 2000 format implemented in 2002, BMW 320sis are everywhere!
They have a massive market in supply of chassis, parts and engines across the tin-top motorsport market, and though DTM will allow them to beat their arch rivals at home in the DTM, we're not going to see those cars racing too much further afield with costs near half a million Euro's per car.
The question really is what will BMW do with the WTCC. One important factor is that some of BMW's supply markets are about to die out pretty quickly. There's only two years of life left for the S2000 BMW in the BTCC, before it's relegated to a backmarker car; the Danish Touring Car series has now closed/merged with the Swedish championship - and they're edging ever closer to a format like the Belgian or British regulations and away from S2000.
Where one door closes, another opens of course, and we're yet to see what may happen with the proposed Japanese Touring Car Championship, which will certainly be a market BMW would like to be involved in.
So will Bart Mampaey's team be left to start funding their own WTCC operation almost like an independent, but with BMW supplied parts? - has West Surrey Racing's frankly startling performance at Porto, Brands and Brno told the Munich bunch that independents can do as well at a fraction of the investment cost?
Time will tell. They've already confirmed that independents can run their new 1.6 turbo engines next year. Armed with the same machinery, if the likes of Proteam Motorsport and West Surrey Racing (if they do WTCC) can get close to RBM, we'll probably see a 'BMW Customers Technology' programme soon enough for 2012 as they go all out to make sure they take on Mercedes-Benz & Audi at their best.
It's all change for European Touring Car racing, 2011's going to be an interesting season indeed before everything changes in 2012.
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