Based on the popular E30 3 Series, the BMW M3 was developed to satisfy Federation Internationale d’Automobile Group A touring car rules that required a total of 5,000 roadgoing equivalents.

It was presented to the public at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show and an immediate success, winning nearly every touring car championship the world over in just a matter of years.

Its impressive racing exploits translated to feverish sales, prompting BMW to spin off special editions to keep pace with demand.

In 1989, BMW released the M3 Cecotto Edition, named after Italian-Venezuelan racing phenom Jonathan Cecotto, who won the 1973 Venezuelan national motorcycle championship at 17 and several others before the age of 20.

Among the last of an elite group of racers who competed at the highest levels of both motorcycle and auto racing—including Formula One—his success in touring-car competition behind the wheel of an M3 helped cement BMW’s reputation as a dominant force in racing and performance-car ...