24h-Race Spa-francorchamps - Bulletin 3

Team BMW Motorsport's 24 Hour Challenge Suffers a Blow
Spa-Francorchamps. The number 143 BMW M3 GTR retired from the Spa 24
hours race during the night. Antonio Garcia retired at the Stavelot
corner while lying third due to a technical problem at 3.51am as the
race approached half distance. The Spaniard tried to re-start the car
but didn't succeed. This brought the Safety Car out on the 6.947
kilometre track for the second time allowing the marshals to remove
several abandoned cars. The number 142 BMW M3 GTR was also struck by
bad luck. As Hans-Joachim Stuck was scheduled to take over from Dirk
Müller at 3.14am the 500bhp car suffered an ignition problem. The
Team BMW Motorsport crew solved the problem and checked the rest of
the car. The car was stationary for 33 minutes before Stuck could
rejoin the race. This dropped the car from seventh to 15th. In the Group
2 class the car is currently lying second. Team BMW Motorsport Team
Manager, Charly Lamm "Antonio had a technical problem at the
Stavelot corner. We suspect from what Antonio has told us it is an
electrical problem, but we don't know for sure as the car is still out
on the side of the track. Unfortunately this means that car number 143
has been forced to retire from the race." BMW M3 GTR Nr. 142 -
Stuck/J.Müller/D.Müller Rd. 1 - Starting driver: H.-J. Stuck -
tyres: Slicks Rd. 38 - Driver change to: Jörg Müller - tyres:
Slicks Rd. 59 - Driver change to: Dirk Müller - tyres: Slicks Rd.
87 - Driver change to: H.-J.-Stuck - tyres: Slicks Rd. 115 - Driver
change to: Jörg Müller - tyres: Slicks Rd. 143 - Driver change
to: Dirk Müller - tyres: Slicks Rd. 171 - Driver change to:
H.-J.-Stuck - tyres: Slicks Rd. 199 - Driver change to: Jörg
Müller - tyres: Slicks Rd. 227 - Driver change to: Dirk Müller
- tyres: Slicks Rd. 254 - Driver change to: H.-J.-Stuck - tyres: Slicks
- change of ignition BMW M3 GTRNr.143 - Lamy/Garcia/Priaulx/Mollekens
Lap 1 - Starting driver: Pedro Lamy - tyres: Slicks Rd. 37 - Driver
change to: Antonio Garcia - tyres: Slicks Rd. 62 - Driver change to:
Andy Priaulx - tyres: Slicks Rd. 88 - Driver change to: Kurt Mollekens -
tyres: Slicks Rd. 116 - Driver change to: Pedro Lamy - tyres: Slicks Rd.
145 - Driver change to: Antonio Garcia - tyres: Slicks Rd. 171 - Driver
change to: Andy Priaulx - tyres: Slicks Rd. 200 - Driver change to: Kurt
Mollekens - tyres: Slicks Rd. 227 - Driver change to: Pedro Lamy -
tyres: Slicks Rd. 255 - Driver change to: Antonio Garcia - tyres: Slicks
Rd. 278 - retired due to technicalproblem 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