BMW Team Brazil set for BES expansion

BMW Team Brazil is closing on an expansion into the Blancpain Endurance Series for next season.

The team that has contested the FIA GT Series and the Blancpain Sprint Series over the past two seasons is within two weeks of confirming an expanded campaign for 2015, according to boss Antonio Hermann.

"This is our project – to do both series," he said. "It is not 100 percent: it looks likely, we are in the process of confirming the sponsorship and we should have it fixed before Christmas."

Hermann said he expected that the team, which has a European base near the Estoril circuit in Portugal, would remain with the BMW Z3 GT3 for 2015.

"It is not confirmed, but we believe that we will have good support from BMW Motorsport next season," he explained. He also said that it did not make sense to swap chassis for 2015 with new GT3 models on the way from BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Porsche for 2016.

Caca Bueno, a regular with the team for the past two seasons, is so far the only driver confirmed for the Brazilian BMW squad, but Hermann said that it was likely that many of the drivers on the team's 2014 roster, including Valdeno Brito, Sergio Jimenez and Nelson Piquet Jr., would return.

He also revealed that he was working on some big-name signings with Formula 1 experience: Ricardo Zonta drove for the team in 2013, while it is known to have had contact with Rubens Barrichello ahead of last year's campaign.

Hermann said that, should the endurance program go head, his preference would be to use two drivers with the exception of the Paul Ricard 1000Km and the Spa 24 Hours. This would require a change in the rules, which series boss Stephane Ratel has said will not happen.

The potential BMW Team Brazil BES entry follows the introduction of prize money for the series next year and a rule that states that teams that do not compete in both the enduros and the sprints will be eligible for only 50 percent of the winnings in their chosen series.

Ratel said the move would "create a more standardized grid across the two series."

"It would avoid the problem we had at Brands Hatch last year [at the BSS round] where the fans were asking, 'Where are the Bentleys?'" he added.