24h-Race Spa-Francorchamps - Bulletin 1

Eventful Start for Team BMW Motorsport in Spa Spa-Fracorchamps.The BMW
M3 GTR number 143 is leading the G2 class and is sixth overall after 87
laps of the Spa 24 Hours. Pedro Lamy covered 37 laps in the first stint
in the GT coupe before handing over to Antonio Garcia. After 62 laps it
was Andy Priaulx's turn to take over from Garcia. In the second BMW M3
GTR it was Hans-Joachim Stuck who started the classic long distance
race. The 53-year-old handed the car to Jörg Müller after 38
laps and then after 59 laps it was the turn of Dirk Müller to
drive the car. After the first four hours of racing number 142 was
28th overall. The trio of German drivers who won the Nürburgring
24 hours seven weeks ago had a difficult start to their Ardennes
adventure. First of all Jörg Müller had to pit twice for
unscheduled tyre changes. Then a further pit stop for him on lap 60
took 31 minutes to repair an oil pressure pipe. At 17.12 Dirk
Müller was able to rejoin the race in 28th. When car number 143
came in for its second driver change repairs were necessary. On the
main straight after Raidillon for no obvious reason the left front
wheel came off on lap 62 while Garcia was driving, and as well as having
a new wheel fitted repairs were necessary to the brake disc. Team BMW
Motorsport Team Manager, Charly Lamm: "We had a good start to the
race and had found our rhythm. The driver change for car number 143 was
as we had scheduled. However, we had a tyre problem with 142 after
Jörg Müller took over from Hans-Joachim Stuck, and
subsequently Jörg had to visit the pits for two unscheduled stops.
Between laps 8 and 11 the Safety Car was out and during this period car
number 142 collected some aluminium debris. The broken oil pipe has
cost us a lot of time during a necessary pit stop. Meanwhile, Dirk
Müller is back on the track and we hope we have better luck from
now on." BMW M3 GTR No. 142 - Stuck/J.Müller/D.Müller
Lap 1 - Starting driver: H.-J. Stuck - tyres: Slicks Lap 38 - Driver
change to: Jörg Müller - tyres: Slicks Lap 59 - Driver change
to: Dirk Müller - tyres: Slicks BMW M3 GTR No. 143 -
Lamy/Garcia/Priaulx/Mollekens Lap 1 - Starting driver: Pedro Lamy -
tyres: Slicks Lap 37 - Driver change to: Antonio Garcia - tyres: Slicks
Lap 62 - Driver change to: Andy Priaulx - tyres: Slicks Press Contact:
Heike Bartsch, BMW Cooperate Affairs, Motorsport, Mobile: +49 172
8485998, heike.bartsch@bmw.de The press kit for the 24 Hours of Spa
and photographs from qualifying and the race are available to download
from www.press.bmw.com