BMW M3 Touring 24H unveiled: April Fools’ prank becomes epic race car reality

BMW has taken the wraps off the BMW M3 Touring 24H – a go-faster version of the BMW M3 Touring estate which will make its debut in endurance racing very soon, at the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours in the SPX class. What is more interesting however are the origins of the M3 Touring 24H. The idea of a M3 Touring car was supposed to be a cheeky April Fools' day prank, but it ended up receiving an overwhelming response on social media – with 1.6 million views – and it was that reaction from its fans that prompted the boffins at BMW M Motorsport to create the M3 Touring’s race car avatar, in just eight months.

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BMW M3 Touring 24H design and interior

The M3 Touring 24H is derived from the body of the standard, road-going M3 Touring, but in this race car avatar, there are few differentiators between the two. The race car for instance, is 200mm longer in length than the road-going version, and thanks to its rear wing, it is 32mm taller than the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, with which it shares its technical basis. The basic Touring silhouette is maintained but the overall aggression has been amped up, with the wide fenders hugging the 18-inch centre-lock wheel with slick racing tyres. The aerodynamics have been worked upon too, with a towering rear wing which has been adopted from the M4 GT3 EVO and gets a newly-developed swan-neck mount on the M3 Touring 24H. Also present on the race car are a front splitter and dive planes to generate more downforce, while the outer skin of the car is made up of carbon fibre reinforced plastic for lighter weight. Unlike the road car, the M3 Touring 24H is all business on the inside with the comfy interior stripped out for race use, a full roll cage for added safety, racing seats, a digital instrument cluster and a fire suppression system.

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BMW M3 Touring 24H engine and performance

At the heart of the M3 Touring 24H lies proven 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged inline-six P58 engine from the M4 GT3 Evo which produces up to 582bhp of power and up to 700Nm of torque and is mated 6-speed X-Trac gearbox which sends power to the rear wheels via a limited-slip diff. Reining in the power of the M3 Touring 24H are the brakes with 390mm discs and six-piston callipers up the front and 380mm discs with four-piston callipers at the rear. The BMW also gets advanced cooling, a dry sump oil system and a titanium exhaust to ensure better reliability in 24-hour endurance races.

From the time that BMW dropped the fictional M3 Touring race car concept on April 1, 2025 – teasing a GT3-spec estate that mocked traditional race car shapes – the fans went wild, flooding the comments with pleas to build it. That race car is now a reality, and the BMW will be making its debut in the second round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS), with drivers Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde, Connor De Phillippi, and Neil Verhagen all set to pilot it at ‘The Green Hell’, as the Nürburgring is often referred to. The project flips the script on the GT3 norms by bringing in a practical estate into endurance racing, but it also pays back a tribute to BMW’s racing heritage, as well as its iconic estate models like the E30 M3 Touring,