BMW Motorsport has revealed the ‘art car’ livery for the #20 Team WRT M Hybrid V8 that will contest the Le Mans 24 Hours next month.
The car, which will be driven by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns, and René Rast, has been presented in its new livery at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France on May 21st, with its new livery designed by artist Julie Mehretu.
The design has ben dubbed a “performance painting” by Mehretu. “The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, about imagination, about pushing limits of what can be possible. I don’t think of this car as something you would exhibit. I am thinking of it as something that will race at Le Mans. It’s a performative painting. My BMW Art Car was created in close collaboration with motorsport and engineering teams. It is only completed once the race is over.”
The event, attended by several hundred invited guests, was also attended by the artist, as well as Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, and Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Human Resources and Real Estate.
“The BMW Art Cars are an essential part of our global cultural commitment. For almost 50 years, we have been collaborating with artists who are just as fascinated by mobility and design as they are by technology and motorsports. Julie Mehretu’s vision for a racing car is an extraordinarily strong contribution to our BMW Art Cars series,” said Zipse.
This is BMW’s first Art Car since the 2017 season, when a BMW M6 GTLM designed by John Baldessari raced at the 24 Hours of Daytona (below), and a ‘virtual’ BMW M6 GT3 Art Car by Cao Fei competed at the FIA GT World Cup in Macau.
“The prospect of competing in a BMW Art Car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an additional incentive for the entire M Motorsport team to prepare the BMW M Hybrid V8 as perfectly as possible for this big stage,” concludes Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH.
“In the 100th year of the race’s existence and 25 years after BMW’s last victory at Le Mans, winning there with a BMW Art Car would be the greatest possible success for all of us.”
Images courtesy of BMW
