BMW announces three two-car teams for 2012 DTM series

Touring car racing fans are eagerly anticipating the return of BMW to the DTM series. The Bavarian automaker last competed in DTM (or its progenitors, anyway) a whopping 18 years ago, but late last year announced it would return to the German touring car series in 2012. Now it has revealed the means to that end.

Rather than field its own entries, BMW will be supplying the vehicles and factory support for three independent teams: BMW Team RBM, BMW Team Schnitzer and Reinhold Motorsport GmbH. Both RBM and Schnitzer have a longstanding relationship with BMW Motorsport, while Reinhold is a completely new outfit. Each of the teams will be fielding two of the new M3 DTMs that are currently under development.

The move to DTM comes on the back of some big shakeups in BMW's racing program. Although it pulled out of Formula One two years ago, and eliminated its works World Touring Car Championship effort at the end of last year, it has recently pitched the Mini division into the WRC with Prodrive and launched the DTM program to pick up where it left off in the WTCC. Follow the jump for the official announcement, along with three additional press releases – one from each of BMW's partner teams – for the true tin-top fanatics among us.