BMW Nurburgring 24 Hours-Final

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

Bulletin No 5

So near yet so far

Dirk Müller, one of the three drivers of the BMW M3 GTR number 43, who
was in sixth until lap 126, had to retire from the race after a collision
with
only a little over an hour to go. Several hours earlier car number 42 had to
retire when fifth also due to a collision.

Dirk Müller: "Right after the accident the first thing I did was to call my
wife and tell
her that I was fine. The realisation that we lost the car so close to the
end of the
race in such a position is not describable. The reason for the accident was
an
overtaking manouevre on a slower car. I waited until I saw his indicator ,
went to
pass him and was pushed off when I was halfway by. My rear tyre was in
contact
with his front tyre, making my car take off."

On lap 122 Jörg Müller had a collision with another competitor. In the pit
stop
following that incident some body panels had to be changed and the power
steering was checked.

Jörg Müller explaining his race incident said:  "We suddenly had problems
with the
power steering. On a bump the steering wheel was forced out of my hands and
unfortunately my car touched Christin Behling's M3. I am really sorry that
this
caused him to retire."

Charly Lamm, Team Manager Team BMW Motorsport:  "The result in such
an important race counts very much and for me to be here with nothing to
show makes me upset. The accidents that caused our retirements are
classic ones here at the Nordschleife. I am glad our drivers did not take
too
many risks. We were able to show that our BMW M3 GTRs are very
competitive. The potential of the cars, the fantastic drive through the
field by
the drivers and the team’s fighting spirit all deserve respect. When you
look
back to the start we had bad luck as such a small thing can have such a
huge effect on the race. It is an interesting event and a good challenge. It
is
a big motor race, it is always spectacular and there are lots of elements
that
make this a good race. I want to thank everyone in the team who
contributed so much this weekend."

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director:  "Despite the hardships for the
team
that had fought until the end it was a very good race for fans and
spectators. We
are now going to analyse the happenings in the race and the technical
defects very
precisely. This has been a weekend of highs and lows, with a pole position
and a
win in Formula 1, as well as a race with neither car finishing."


Car No 42 - BMW M3 GTR (Retired 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)

Final Results:  1. Reuter/Scheider/Tiemann/Strycek (Opel Astra V8 Coupe) 24h
07m 49.2s 143
laps, 2. Wendlinger/Abt/Nissen/Werner (Audi Abt Audi TT-R) 24h 03m 19.7s 138
laps, 3.
Luhr/Collard/Bernhard (Porsch 996) 24h 07m 50.3s 137 laps, 4.
Grohs/Scharmach/Fischer/Reisert
(Porsche 996) 24h 04m 15.6s 135 laps, 5. Zakowski/Lamy/Lechner (Dodge Viper)
24h 01m 34.7s 134
laps, 6. Scheid/Kainz/Merten (BMW) 24h 07m 49.4s 133 laps.