The sporting success of BMW continued in 1999, with further laurels being garnered when the BMW works team achieved overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Following the departure of the record breaker Porsche from the Le Mans event, a new German team with sports car prototypes started with Audi. Martin Brundle in a Toyota GT-One was fastest during qualifications and, consequently, took pole position.

The 580 horsepower and 12-cylinders of the newly developed BMW V12 LMR ran both reliably and confidently throughout the entire race. Then came the triumph after 24 hours and 366 laps of 13.6 km each, with the Italian Pierluigi Martini powering across the finish line in the BMW with the number 15. His equally exhausted and delighted team colleagues were the German Joachim Winkelhock and Yannick Dalmas from France.

Toyota took second place, with third and fourth positions going to the Audis from the Joest team. The second BMW dropped out towards the end of the race.