The unpopular BMW stalwart built for the big occasion

It has won most of the big prizes in endurance racing across its six years in service, but the BMW M6 GT3's key weaknesses meant only a devoted few teams persisted with running it. As it prepares to bow out at season's end, the teams and drivers involved in its story share the secrets of an unpopular winner

It has a roll of honour that would be the envy of many major manufacturers. Twice a winner of the Spa 24 Hours, the BMW M6 GT3 has conquered the Nurburgring 24 Hours, the Macau FIA GT World Cup, and been a serial winner in the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS, formerly VLN). One of four cars to win a race in the first season of the DTM's new era in 2021, it stands a good chance of winning two major titles in its swansong season, five years after its 2016 introduction.

So it will be remembered fondly in the history books. Yet for all its on-track successes, the M6 GT3 has been commercially unsuccessful beyond a hardcore base of stalwart BMW squads that have kept it winning against more fashionable opposition, and unpopular with amateur drivers who are the backbone of the global formula.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award.

He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual, niche or random, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars as Autosport's British GT correspondent and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

An expert in catching 40 winks on media centre floors, he lives with his wife and son in Plymouth, England.