BMW Team RLL is set to return to ALMS GT competition in 2013 armed with a new driver line-up and a new car.

The 2011 GT champions will campaign the newly designed BMW Z4 GTEs – replacing the previous highly successful M3 model. Their 2013 driver line-up features familiar faces including Bill Auberlen, Joey Hand and Dirk Müller.

Due to Hand’s full-time return to BMW in the DTM series in Germany for a second consecutive season (pictured right), Hand will contest only some ALMS races in 2013. Twenty-one-year old New Yorker John Edwards will join the team, stepping in for Hand on the clashing weekends..

The newest BMW Motorsport driver, Maxime Martin, will join BMW Team RLL for the full season. The 26-year-old finished second in the 2012 BMW Sport Trophy after a strong season racing a BMW Z4 GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series and a BMW ALPINA B6 GT3 in the ADAC GT Masters. For the long-distance races at Sebring and Petit Le Mans, Uwe Alzen  and Jörg Müller will return to the team.

“We are really looking forward to this new chapter of BMW racing in North America,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America.

“After two Manufacturer’s championships, two Team championships, one driver championship, and the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge championship for BMW Team RLL with the M3 GT, we now entrust the same strong team to deliver more trophies with our new Z4 GTE. We are absolutely convinced that BMW fans will again see great ALMS GT class racing in 2013.”

The BMW Z4 GTE was developed for the ALMS regulations, based on the BMW Z4 GT3, which has celebrated multiple championship wins in Europe and Asia.