BMW Report from ETCC Qualifying Oschersleben

BMW
Corporate Communications

2003 European Touring Car Championship
Rounds 15, 16 - 20/21 September, Oschersleben (Germany) -
QUALIFYING

First pole of the season for Jörg Müller after close qualifying

Jörg Müller claimed pole position for BMW's home race after one of the
closest qualifying sessions of the year. The top 13 cars on the grid are
covered by less than a second and four of the five BMW national team cars
will start in the top five places. The unlucky driver out of this group is
Dirk
Müller, in the second BMW Team Deutschland 320i, who spun into a gravel
trap and so the best he could manage was eighth. Second quickest BMW
driver was BMW Team Great Britain's Andy Priaulx in third, and just behind
him are the BMW Team Italy-Spain drivers, Antonio Garcia and Fabrizio
Giovanardi. With the championship positions so close all the signs are for a
close exciting race.

Positions for the BMW drivers are:  1st Jörg Müller, 3rd Andy Priaulx, 4th
Antonio Garcia, 5th Fabrizio Giovanardi, 8th Dirk Müller.

BMW Team Deutschland - Schnitzer Motorsport - Charly Lamm:  "It was
an exciting qualifying and both drivers made our hearts beat quicker. It
ended well with Jörg putting the car on pole on his very last lap - his
first of
the year. Dirk was on his way to a good qualifying time, as midway through
the session he was at the top of the timesheet, but then things went wrong.
On his second attempt he spun into the gravel, the race director stopped the
session and then Dirk's car had to go directly to parc fermé. He is eighth
on
the grid so all is not lost and he has to fight tomorrow."

Dirk Müller (GER) (1m 33.974s): "It was not the best qualifying I have had
in
my career so far. Perhaps it was the worst. I had a problem with someone
trying to overtake me on the first outing. I got in traffic and so was not
happy. I knew I could have done better. We made a set up change and felt
the car was really good, but then I miss shifted from fourth to first, spun
and
ended up in the gravel. On the positive side I have two new sets of tyres
for
tomorrow and a good car."

Jörg Müller (GER) (1m 33.453s) (carrying 30 kilos ballast): "It is important
I
am in front and it doesn't matter by how much. It was a difficult session
for
me as I had a few offs and had a high speed spin in the double left hander.
I
tried taking it a bit easier for my run with new tyres. With these cars if
you go
smoothly you are fast, I tried that and it worked. I think the Alfas will be
a
strong competitors in the race and I hope there will be a few BMWs between
them and me. I am going for the championship, but as there are five drivers
who can win it no one is going to help me in this race."

BMW Team Great Britain - RBM - Bart Mampaey:  "After a difficult
weekend in Anderstorp, where we got a good overall result by being second
in race two, we are very pleased to come to Oschersleben and be very
competitive from the first session. Andy had a decent clear run on his first
set and this put him second behind Tarquini. We waited until the end of the
session to see what the other BMWs were doing and Jörg and Antonio
improved on Andy's time. We put another set on and he improved on his
time and was very close to pole. It is disappointing being third on the grid
as
there is not a lot in it."

Andy Priaulx (GBR) (1m 33.483s) (carrying 10 kilos of ballast):
"Unfortunately I got it the wrong way round today and wish I had been third
in
the first session and quickest now. It is a good circuit that is suited to
the
BMW. I enjoy driving here. The set-up for my car has been good all day
today, but pole position could have gone to any one of us as it was in the
driver and not the car. It is three hundredths and that is very close."

BMW Team Italy-Spain - Ravaglia Motorsport - Roberto Ravaglia:  "I am
quite happy as the car was okay. Antonio and Fabrizio did good qualifying
laps and are both in the top five so the race is open. I am happy to see
Jörg
in pole position in front of the Alfas. It would be better to have Tarquini
behind us but that is not possible."

Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) (1m 33.767s):  "It was much better than the last
event for me. In qualifying we have five cars covered by three tenths. For
tomorrow I think it will be different as at the moment we have four BMWs in
the first five positions. Tomorrow we have just to be careful at the first
corner. I have a bad memory from this race last year as I went off in the
first
corner!"

Antonio Garcia (ESP) (1m 33.668s)(carrying 20 kilos ballast): "It was a
good session for me but I made two mistakes. I did almost the same time on
my first and second laps on the first set of tyres because of a mistake.
Then
I was thinking about pole. But on the first corner on the next set I was in
neutral in the corner and remained with no gears for the braking area. I
thought it was too late to get a good lap, but it was even faster than the
last
one. I am disappointed but I think I have a good car for the race, which I
know will be very tough."

Results: 1. Jörg Müller (GER/BMW 310i) 1m 33.453s, 2. Gabriele Tarquini
(ITA/Alfa
Romeo) 1m 33.462s, 3. Andy Priauld (GBR/BMW 320i) 1m 33.483s, 4. Antonio
Garcia
(ESP/Alfa Romeo) 1m 33.668s, 5. Fabrizil Giovanardi (ITA/BMW 320i) 1m
33.767s, 6.
Nicola Larini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 1m 33.811s.