After 11-tear absence, BMW set to return to 24-Hours of Le Mans

Though there’s yet to be an official announcement regarding the matter, it looks like BMW is trading in their fancy F1 digs for a return to competition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The report, which was broken in by Bimmerfile, claims that the list of invited participants for the June 12-13 race have already been released and, lo and behold, BMW – or to be specific, BMW Motorsports – is one of the brands that will be competing at the race.

This, of course, comes as pretty big news, especially since the last time BMW entered a 24-Hour Le Mans was way back in 1999, a time when Americans still hadn’t subjected themselves to the satirical folly known simply as ‘Dubya’. It’s also worth noting that BMW’s exit at the Le Mans back then coincided with their entry into Formula One, and now, 11 years later, BMW Motorsports has indeed come full-circle.

As far as BMW’s official comeback tour for Le Mans is concerned, the team is scheduled to field two BMW M3s in the GT2 class, where it will be driven by accomplished – and sleep deprived – drivers like Jörg and Dirk Müller, Dirk Werner, Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus. Not exactly household names, eh?

BMW has yet to formally announce its return to the 24-Hours of Le Mans but then again, a little spoiler or two wouldn’t hurt.