BMW - Nurburgring 24 Hours - Bulletin 4

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

Bulletin No 4

Hard Work Is Rewarded By Success

The progress of BMW M3 GTR number 43 in the 24h-Race Nürburgring
tells a story of speed and consistency. The car that was virtually last at
the
start of the race, was 21st at half distance, is now sixth,  six hours
before
the end of the race. Sadly the drivers of BMW M3 GTR number 42 are
already in their hotel having retired in the early hours of the morning.

Marc Duez, driver in car no 43:  "I drove for two stints in the night, which
demanded a lot of concentration. We had to overtake most of the
competitors following our problem at the beginning of the race. There were
also a lot of accidents on the track. On the other hand the BMW M3 GTR
made it really easy for us. The car handles superbly so you don’t have to
worry about this, and can concentrate fully on what is happening on the
track."

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director, left the team for Monaco where Ralf
Schumacher is starting today's F1 race from pole . As a farewell he thanked
Team
BMW Motorsport:  "Even though we had to fight with a lot of problems from
the
start, the team was always highly motivated. Due to their expertise and
dedication
they have made tremendous progress during the night. This is true
sportsmanship."
The strong tradition of BMW in motorsport is reflected by the number of
participants
in the 24 hour race. Of the 218 entries 57 are BMWs, so BMW is the biggest
manufacturer group, followed by Porsche (25) and Honda (25).

Car No 42 - BMW M3 GTR (Retired due to a collision after 69 laps while in
fifth)

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)