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 - broken oil pipe
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