Car and Driver: BMW M2 Becomes Smallest, Newest M-Badged MotoGP Safety Car

It feels as though BMW’s introduction of a new high-performance M model dressed up as a Safety Car for the MotoGP motorcycle racing series has become an event so predictable you could set your watch to it. The phenomenon has held true the past few years, and this year BMW is lobbing its new M2 into the MotoGP Safety Car fleet. As the newest member of the M family, the small M2 deservedly dons track-ready safety gear, an awesome graphics package, and a natty rooftop light bar in anticipation of pacing the 2016 MotoGP field.

As we’ve come to expect, the M2 is outfitted with a roll cage that eliminates the rear seat, as well as a fire extinguisher, a harness bar with six-point belts, and Recaro front seats. There are flashing LED lights in the grille and on the roof, as well as a special aerodynamics package consisting of an M Performance front canard set, a carbon-fiber rear wing, and M Performance rocker-panel extensions. For some extra gusto, BMW also fitted an M Performance exhaust system and intake, and stopping duties are aided by a prototype M Performance carbon-ceramic brake rotor kit. Extra flash comes by way of carbon-fiber M Performance door mirror caps and a rear diffuser, as well as a black grille kit, a sport steering wheel, and more carbon accents in the cabin. Oh, and the wheels are finished in a gloriously cool gold/bronze color.

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We dig how BMW dug into its M Performance parts catalog—and even came up with a few prototype pieces for the front fascia, rear wing, etc., along the way—for the M2 Safety Car, but we aren’t presently sure how many of those items will be available to U.S. customers. Hey, at least the final result looks cool and, despite its size disparity, it should hold its own in the company of BMW’s other MotoGP Safety Cars—an M4 coupe, an M3 sedan, an X5 M, and an M5.

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