BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team got its first "meet and greet" with the new BMW M3 on Wednesday at Road Atlanta, a chilly day that saw the North American debut of BMW's newest GT2 challenger. Jörg Müller, the 2001 GT champion in the American Le Mans Series with BMW Motorsport, had most of the Seat time Wednesday in the brand-new, freshly liveried M3.

Among those on hand for the two-day test is Rahal Letterman Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal, no stranger to Road Atlanta or the American Le Mans Series. Rahal Letterman fielded a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in GT2 during the 2007 season, and Rahal himself is eager to begin this new chapter.

"It's a great relationship between Rahal Letterman and BMW North America," Rahal said. "Sports car racing is where I got my start so there were a lot of emotional reasons for being involved but there also were a variety of business-related reasons as well.

"With all due respect to our prototype friends, GT2 will truly be one for the ages. We are part of BMW returning, you have Corvette moving from GT1 and GT2 plus Panoz, Porsche and Ferrari. It will be extremely tough, competitive racing."

The M3 also will test Thursday at Road Atlanta before another test session next week at Sebring International Raceway, site of the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team is planning to enter a pair of M3s. Monday, the team announced Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand as its first two drivers.