24h-Race Nürburgring - car 43 now sixth

24h-Race Nürburging 2003 - 31 May to 1 June - Race

Bulletin No 4

Hard Work Is Rewarded By Success: The progress of BMW M3 GTR number 43 in the
24h-Race Nürburgring tells a story of speed and consistency. The car that was
virtually last at the start of the race, was 21st at half distance, is now
sixth, six hours before the end of the race. Sadly the drivers of BMW M3 GTR
number 42 are already in their hotel having retired in the early hours of the
morning.

Marc Duez, driver in car no 43: "I drove for two stints in the night, which
demanded a lot of concentration. We had to overtake most of the competitors
following our problem at the beginning of the race. There were also a lot of
accidents on the track. On the other hand the BMW M3 GTR made it really easy
for us. The car handles superbly so you don't have to worry about this, and can
concentrate fully on what is happening on the track."

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director, left the team for Monaco where Ralf
Schumacher is starting today's F1 race from pole . As a farewell he thanked
Team BMW Motorsport: "Even though we had to fight with a lot of problems from
the start, the team was always highly motivated. Due to their expertise and
dedication they have made tremendous progress during the night. This is true
sportsmanship." The strong tradition of BMW in motorsport is reflected by the
number of participants in the 24 hour race. Of the 218 entries 57 are BMWs, so
BMW is the biggest manufacturer group, followed by Porsche (25) and Honda (25).