Team BMW Motorsport - 24h Nürburgring - Bulletin 2
Nürburging 24 Hour Race, 12th-13th June 2004 - Race Bulletin 2
Team BMW Motorsport in the lead at the Nordschleife.
Nürburg, 12th June 2004. So far the 24 Hour Race on the Nürburgring is running
according to plan for Team BMW Motorsport. The BMW M3 GTR (car number 42) is in
the lead after eight hours of driving. The second GT coupé fielded by Schnitzer
Motorsport lies in third place with a gap of 7.46 minutes behind the leader.
Dirk Müller (GER) is currently driving the car number 42 on the 24.358
kilometre track. At the end of lap 43 the 28-year-old had taken over at the
wheel from Jörg Müller (GER), who had relieved Hans-Joachim Stuck (GER) on lap
35.
Stuck put in an impressive endurance performance. The 53-year-old had remained
at the wheel of the 500 bhp BMW M3 GTR for 2 hours 20 minutes, reaching the
maximum driving period permitted by the race management. "The conditions are
incredible," said Stuck after his 13-lap session. "Even with wet tyres it's
difficult to keep the car on the track in this rain. It's a bit like
water-skiing."
The extreme weather conditions on the combined Nürburgring Nordschleife and
short version of the Grand Prix course persisted, which meant that Stuck had to
follow up his scheduled tyre change after lap 28 with another pit stop just one
lap later to swap his fresh intermediates for wet tyres. Once again the track
was doused by heavy rainfall.
Pedro Lamy (PRT) has been out on track in the second BMW M3 GTR (car number 43)
since lap 38. The 32-year-old climbed into the cockpit after his team-mates
Boris Said (USA) and Duncan Huisman (NLD). Huisman had just experienced a
moment of fright: as he was heading for the pit lane, he spun on the track and
came to a halt immediately in front of Stuck, who was following him. Stuck,
driving car number 42, just managed to hit the brakes in time. "This is the
craziest race I've ever been involved in," said Huisman, "I went into a spin on
slicks as the track was getting wetter again."
Both BMW M3 GTRs are currently driving with intermediates on a drying track.
But weather conditions in the Eifel are liable to change at any moment.
The complete BMW press kit on the Nürburgring 24 Hour Race is downloadable at
www.press.bmw.com.