BMW has made an April Fools' joke into reality, unveiling a racing version of the M3 Touring estate ahead of its competitive debut next week.

The firm 'revealed' an M3 Touring GT race car on social media as its annual 1 April gag last year but never gave any indication that it could actually build the outlandish GT3 racer - until now.

Making its competitive debut in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie next weekend at the Nordschleife, the M3 Touring 24H is the product of a rapid-fire eight-month engineering programme to create a race-ready version of the hot wagon, in response to the "overwhelming" social media reaction it garnered.

BMW said it had already considered creating a competition-spec M3 Touring and the huge response to the digital renderings it put out last April gave bosses the confidence to finally approve the project.

There's no word on whether the off-road-ready M2 Dakar that BMW also revealed last April Fools' Day could be bound for reality.

Underneath, the racing estate is technically identical to the existing M4 GT3, with its 3.0-litre straight six – an uprated version of that used in the road car – sending 586bhp to the rear wheels.

BMW hasn't given any performance figures, but considering the race-prepped version packs 86bhp more and should weigh a couple of hundred kilograms less than the road car, it will be significantly quicker.

Described as a "car for the fans", the M3 Touring 24H is decorated for the preparatory races with a livery that features a selection of comments that followers left under the original April Fools' post last year.

When it takes to the grid for the first time next weekend, it will wear another special livery.

German race team Schubert Motorsport will field it in the special SPX category, so it won't compete directly with the three M4 GT3s that race in the top SP9 category.

BMW hasn't given any plans for further competitive outings for the M3 Touring 24H, nor said whether it plans to sell it to privateer racers, as it does with the M4 GT3 for around £500,000 a pop.

Andrea Roos, who runs BMW M's motorsport operations, said: “A project like the BMW M3 Touring 24H has never existed at BMW M Motorsport before. Many thanks to everyone who put their heart and soul into this unique car and brought it to life.

"I am thrilled – and at the same time, I am certain that our fans, who are never closer to us than at our second home on the Nürburgring, will be just as excited. I promise all fans a great show and look forward to an event of superlatives.”