ALMS Nürburgring 1000 Kilometre Race
Munich/Nürburgring. A small piece of metal in a tyre prevented the third
victory in a row for BMW in the fourth round of the American Le Mans Series
(ALMS) at the Nürburgring. BMW works driver Jörg Müller (D) lost the lead 20
minutes before the chequered flag, after he had spun because of a slow
puncture. After nearly six hours of treacherous racing on the rain soaked Eifel
circuit, Müller and his partner JJ Lehto (FIN) came second behind the Panoz of
David Brabham/Jan Magnussen and defended their championship lead. Müller is
leading now with 100 points ahead of Lehto (98 points). In the championships
for chassis- and engine manufacturers, and teams, BMW leads with 95 points
followed by Panoz (85) and Audi (84). In the thrilling event the Audi of Frank
Biela/Emanuele Pirro came third three laps behind.
The two BMW V12 LMRs started from fourth (Lehto) and fifth (Jean-Marc Gounon)
positions in the legendary 1000-kilometre race. As rain set in the BMW drivers
chose wet weather tyres, but soon regretted their choice as conditions quickly
improved, temporarily forfeiting their second and third positions. From lap 70,
of 185 laps, persistent rain left no choice except for rain tyres. While Lehto
drove constantly in second position, Gounon had to pit for 20 minutes after an
accident which damaged the rear of his car. Bill Auberlen then rejoined the
race 13 laps behind.
Müller took over from Lehto after three hours and 20 minutes (111 laps). Thanks
to excellent pit strategy the German took the lead on lap 150 and defended it
strongly until the spin which allowed the number 1 Panoz to close on him.
Auberlen meanwhile handed over to Gounon after 124 laps, 15 laps behind the
leader. The Frenchman took tenth place.
BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm: "This race was breathtaking until the
very last lap. Without having the slow puncture in the end, Jörg would have
taken the third victory in a row. But we should be happy to have finished
second after such a difficult race."
Jörg Müller #42: "Mentally this was one of my hardest races ever. There were
many big moments because of the bad visibility. One was even in danger of
spinning on the straight. Shortly before the end I felt the grip becoming less.
Until then I was able to control Magnussen behind me."
JJ Lehto #42: "With this amount of water on the track and the aquaplaning it
was extremely difficult to keep the car on the track. I went off several times
and even had two 360 degree spins."
Jean-Marc Gounon #43: "The car was really good, it is such a shame that I had
the early accident. I drove very close behind JJ when he suddenly had to brake
because of a slower car. In order not to hit JJ I tried to drive around and
went off the track."
Bill Auberlen #43: "After the car was repaired our concern was simply to finish
in the points, which paid off with collecting ten points. I drove very
carefully . It was difficult to keep the car under control, also because of the
accident we lost our new rear wing which brought us more downforce."
Hans-Joachim Stuck came sixth in the GT class with his partners Boris Said and
Johannes van Overbeek, although they had a collision causing a long pit stop
for the BMW M3 of BMW Team PTG, to change the steering rack. "I drove nearly
four hours and enjoyed every lap", Stuck said beaming.