Team BMW Motorsport - 24h Nürburgring - Qualifying

Team BMW Motorsport in great shape on Friday

Nürburg, 11th June 2004. Team BMW Motorsport has got off to a promising start
for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The BMW M3 GTR (car number 42) of the German
drivers Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller and Hans-Joachim Stuck, qualified in fourth
position, with Dirk Müller setting an 8:32.062-minute lap, the fourth fastest
time achieved over the course of both qualifying sessions on the 24.358
kilometre circuit.

"It's true that the grid position isn't too important in a 24-hour race, but
our fourth place proves that we are really fast," said Hans-Joachim Stuck, who
has won the classic event twice. "The Nordschleife is, and will remain, the
most fascinating circuit in the world. And even rain showers cannot dampen the
fans' fantastic mood."

The second BMW M3 GTR (car number 43) of Duncan Huisman (NLD), Pedro Lamy (PRT)
and Boris Said (USA) will start the race from the tenth spot on the grid. Lamy,
also a two-time Nürburgring 24 Hour Race winner, secured tenth place by setting
an 8:53.559-minute lap.

After session one, however, car number 43 was at the back end of the
provisional grid. On the very first lap of the first session, 32-year-old Lamy
went off in the section between 'Ex-Mühle' and 'Bergwerk', damaging the
right-front suspension of his BMW M3 GTR. "I was just too fast," said Lamy
afterwards, "maybe because I am extremely motivated at this circuit." But the
crew of Schnitzer Motorsport worked hard and succeeded in repairing the M3 GTR
in time for session two.

Several, fairly heavy rain showers in the afternoon caused extremely difficult
conditions at the beginning of the second session which took place in the
evening, but over the course of the session the track dried up and consequently
the conditions improved.

The 32nd running of the classic 24 Hour Race at the Nürburgring will get
underway on Saturday, 12th June, at 15:00 hrs CEST (14:00 hrs BST).

Result: 1st J. Alzen/U. Alzen/M. Bartels/K. Ludwig (Porsche 996 Turbo) 8m
19.288s, 2nd P. Dumbreck/M. Fässler/C. Menzel/V. Strycek (Opel Astra V8 Coupé)
8m 30.350s, 3rd P. Huisman/F. Stippler/K. Wendlinger/C. Abt (Abt-Audi TT R) 8m
30.576s, 4th H.-J. Stuck/D. Müller/J. Müller/P. Lamy (BMW M3 GTR) 8m 32.062s,
5th C. Abt/M. Ekström/F. Ekblom/P. Huisman (Abt-Audi TT R) 8m 32.907s, 6th L.
Luhr/A. Klasen/T. Bernhard/O. Manthey (Porsche 911 GT3 MR) 8m 34.754s, 7th M.
Reuter/T. Scheider/V. Strycek/M. Tiemann (Opel Astra V8 Coupé) 8m 37.034s, 8th
H.-P. Huppert-Nieder/W. Mohr/M. Grossmann/A. Gülden (Chrysler Viper GTS) 8m
41.528s, 9th H. Tilke/U. Galladé/D. Adorf (V8STAR Jaguar) 8m 41.684s, 10th P.
Lamy/B. Said/D. Huisman/H.-J. Stuck (BMW M3 GTR) 8m 43.559s

Press contact: Heike Bartsch, BMW Corporate Affairs, Mobile: +49 172 84 85
998, Tel: +49 89 382 33115, heike.bartsch@bmw.de