BMW has announced four full-season factory drivers for its 2018-19 World Endurance Championship campaign with the M8 GTE.
Augusto Farfus, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nicky Catsburg and Martin Tomczyk will lead the German manufacturer's assault on the GTE-Pro category in the WEC and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
DTM driver Farfus is the only team member with previous Le Mans experience, having raced for BMW Motorsport when it last ran at the French enduro in 2011.
Tomczyk moves across from the marque's GTLM programme in North America, while Da Costa will balance his WEC role with a seat at Andretti in Formula E.
Catsburg won the Spa 24 Hours in a BMW Z4 GT3 two years ago, and more recently has raced with success in the World Touring Car Championship with Volvo.
The quartet will be joined by Phillip Eng, Alexander Sims and Tom Blomqvist for the longer endurance events at Le Mans and Sebring.
"The drivers in our WEC squad have been intensely involved in the development work on the BMW M8 GTE from the outset," said BMW motorsport director Jens Marquardt.
"The combination of GT experience and race talent means we are ideally positioned to achieve good results in our first season in uncharted territory.”
BMW also revealed the members of its IMSA Sportscar Championship roster, which will consist of two M8 GTEs run by the RLL squad.
Connor de Phillippi will join existing driver John Edwards in one car, while Alexander Sims and Jesse Krohn will share the other.
Sims previously raced alongside company veteran Bill Auberlen, who has moved into a reduced four-race programme in the North American Endurance Cup alongside De Phillippi and Edwards.
Krohn, meanwhile, moves up to the GTLM ranks having raced a Turner Motorsports-entered GT3 version of the BMW M6 in 2017.
Farfus, Catsburg and Eng will provide support for the NAEC races, which include the Rolex 24 at Daytona – where the M8 will make its competition debut – and the Sebring 12 Hours.






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