Sami,
24R was lend to Gulf Team Davidoff after Le Mans 1997 as their chassis 22R had the fire in the LM'97 practise (DNS due to that) but then in Suzuka FIA GT practise John Nielsen almost distroyed the 24R and went to extensive repair before selling to EMKA that raced it in BGTC 1998 in the red EMKA/EMI/Harman Kardon livery used also in Le Mans 1998 as #40 that it also has today and was recently raced in a couple of 90's revival races. BMW kept the 26R that Lehto/Soper raced in FIA GT '97 second half of the season till the Sebring fire and some point reliveried it to the #42 even though really raced as #43 in LM'97. A bit similar story as with the 18R relivery to LM'96 16R #38 with the 17R's number 39. Maybe someone closer to BMW could explain at some point the reasons for these "faults".