BMW Nurburgring 24 Hours Bulletin 3

BMW
Corporate Communications





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

Bulletin No 3

Good and bad luck are never very far apart in motorsport

Twelve hours into the race Car No 42 is rewarded with fifth place after
hunting down the opposition, but retires shortly afterwards

The chances of a good result for Team BMW Motorsport didn't look
promising at the start of the race. However, during the six hours up to half
distance the car improved by 30 places. Shortly after car no 42 took fifth
place its hunt for better positions came to a halt due to a collision. Boris
Said was driving the car at 3.18am and crashed at the exit of Fuchsröhre.
The uninjured driver said:  "As I came out of the curve I saw a car
indicating.
I don't know exactly what happened, but the marshals reported two cars had
already crashed there.”

For the drivers Jörg Müller (GER), Dirk Müller (GER), Claudia Hürtgen
(GER) and Marc Duez (BEL) it was possible to make up an amazing 140
places after 70 laps to be in 21st place.

As dawn breaks over the Eifel mountains car number 43 is being driven by
Marc Duez, but car number 42 is definitely out.

Charly Lamm, Team Manager Team BMW Motorsport:  "Boris needed to go
a long distance with the damaged M3 GTR to reach the pits. This obviously
had an adverse affect on parts of the car. For safety reasons we decided to
retire car number 42 from the race. All our hopes now lay with number 43."

Boris Said:  "I am very sorry that this collision happened to me. We were
going in the right direction to catch the field."

Car No 42 - BMW M3 GTR

Hans-Joachim Stuck (GER)/Boris Said (USA)/John Nielsen (DNK)/Marc Duez (BEL)

Car No 43 – BMW M3 GTR

Jörg Müller (GER)/Dirk Müller (GER)/Claudia Hürtgen (GER)/Marc Duez (BEL)