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BMW - Lehto statement

24 September 1999

Note to media:

BMW Motorsport driver J.J. Lehto did not attend podium presentations
following the Petit Le Mans on Sept. 18 because he did not know that his
car had finished in third position.  With four laps to go, the race leader
No. 42 BMW V12 LMR spun off course with Lehto's co-driver Jorg Muller at
the wheel.  Disappointed, Lehto left the pit area and didn't realize that
Muller had returned to the track and finished third.

"When I saw Jorg stuck in the gravel it was clear for me, that that was the
end of the race. So I walked away because I was disappointed. I
didn't realize at all that they managed to pull Jorg out of the gravel and
that he could finish the race in third position. For sure I would have been
on the podium if I only knew we finished third," Lehto said. 

"I feel very sorry about this, not only because everybody now guesses Lehto
to be a bad sportsman. It's first of all that I really feel sorry about
what they think about BMW! I was sitting on the grass near our
hospitality when the guys came half an hour after the race, asking why I
haven't been on the podium. They found me totally surprised! Never ever
would I have missed the podium if I only had known this."

contact Eva-Maria Burkhardt, BMW AG, AK-2 80788 München Tel.: +49 89 382-23
401 Fax.: +49 89 382-27 563 mailto:eva-maria.burkhardt@bmw.de

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