At the Nurburgring 24 Hour race where the BMW came out victorious, the director of the M division of BMW, Dr Kay Segler confirmed that the M model is indeed based on the 135i.
The car that is expected to arrive in the market not before the second quarter of 2011 would however not carry the tag of M1 since M1 has been exclusively reserved for the 1981 supercar. It is no secret that BMW is already working on the next generation of the 1-series and therefore the M version of the 135i would be available in limited edition only.
Source: 4wheelsnews