[bradleyland]

Yeah, I dunno. The thing about the M235i Racing is, it races either as a single make, or in homologated classes like PWC TC, so the car has already been BoP'd to the class. I could see the switch to M240i Racing (with a B58) happening as the N55 ages out of production, but I don't know that there's any benefit to borrowing from the M2 parts bin for the current car.

If we do see an M2-derived car, I'd expect it to show up in TCR. The jump from TC to TCR is kind of like GT4 to GT3. The TCR cars are substantially more focused race cars, which would fit the M2's brand image very well.

I just hope TCR doesn't kill off PWC TC. Having four touring car classes is going to cause some dilution. PWC TC is one of the few top-tier classes* that remain really approachable. The cost of fielding a car in PWC TC is orders of magnitude less expensive than PWC GT. Maybe that's why TCR is being developed here in the states too. It's been tremendously successful abroad, so they're obviously hitting a sweet spot on the performance/cost ratio continuum.

The thing I really don't want to see diminished is the wildly exciting racing that we've seen in the "under card" series/classes over the last couple of years. Both PWC TC and IMSA's Continental Tire series have, IMO, had better racing than the top tier series (PWC GT, IMSA WeatherTech SCC) this year. In the races that I've watched for these series, there is a battle going on probably 70% of the time. The guys in the IMSA SC Challenge's ST class are flat out bonkers. Bonkers!

Anyway, I'm down a rabbit hole here. It's a great time to be a racing fan!

* Speaking within context. TC is currently PWC's top-tier touring car class.