The newly imported Randall Industries/Southern BM BMW was launched at a lavish unveiling hosted by Brighton BMW.

Lawrence made his circuit racing debut last year, partnered and mentored by Bowe after a mutual connection introduced them, in a previous generation BMW.

“The reason for upgrading to the new model is to be in the latest generation of GT4 car and be a little more competitive,” Lawrence explained.

“I have always been a big fan of BMW, so to be driving the latest and greatest is awesome. We received the new G82 towards the end of last year and I was debating whether to debut it at Bathurst but elected to use the trusted F82.

“JB (Bowe) is aiming to do all the rounds bar one as there might be a clash, but the goal is to do every race together. He’s been instrumental in getting me up to speed at a faster pace than where I would be without him.”

This year’s campaign in Monochrome GT4 Australia will be Bowe’s only full-time gig after stepped away from Touring Car Masters at the end of 2023.

“The G82 is nice to drive, even if it is complex compared to what I’ve been driving recently, and I can’t say I fully understand it yet. Just getting in it and driving it has been terrific,” Bowe added.

“These GT4 cars are turnkey from the factory, which is what we all like about them. All the models have long service intervals, reasonably priced and I think the category has a bright future if it’s managed properly.

“I’m very excited about the category. It should create some great racing, not send anyone broke and the cars are based on the road-going equivalent built by factory engineers.”

They will be joined during the season by Lawrence’s father Peter in a second entry. The new G82 is one of many new cars to rapidly growing number of new entries in the category.

Tim Leahey from Orange in NSW had a successful debut of the latest model at the Bathurst International last November.

The opening round of the season is at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit alongside the Shannons SpeedSeries starts the season on April 12-14.