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BMW is working on a replacement for its Z4 GT3 racer based around the M6 coupe that could become the basis of its next contender in the United SportsCar Championship.

The German manufacturer is known to be designing the new car and is expected to begin testing early next year ahead of deliveries to customers in time for the 2016 season.

The existing V8-powered Z4 GT3 is the base for the GTE-spec Z4 that has run in GT Le Mans class of the USC with the factory Rahal team since superseding the M3 GT for 2013, and it is likely that BMW will follow the same route in upgrading the GT3 car for the higher formula.

The continuation of the USC programme into next season has yet to be confirmed, but with BMW North America celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2015, it appears a certainty that it will be extended.

Sources at BMW in the US suggest that it is likely that it will continue with the Z4 GTLM next season ahead of a switch to a new model for the year after.

A spokesman for BMW would not confirm that a replacement for the five-year-old Z4 was already in development, but stated that an announcement about its plans for the category was imminent.

"There will be a new GT3 car at a certain time," he said.

"We then need to see how we solve the GTE issue."

BMW is understood to have decided to use the M6 as its next GT3 racer because the Z4 is not due for replacement in its model range until 2017, while it does not want to confuse the marketing message by using the M4 because it is its chosen silhouette in the DTM.