BMW Team PTG Debuts Second 2001 M3 at Silverstone
4 May 2000
TOWCESTER, England (May 4, 2000) -- BMW Team PTG
will introduce a second 2001 BMW M3 and new team colors at
the inaugural European Le Mans Series event, the Silverstone 500
USA Challenge. Points from the May 13 race at Britain's
Silverstone Circuit will count in the American Le Mans Series.
The first 2001 M3, the team's No. 6 car, has raced in
Sebring, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C., this season with drivers Boris
Said of Carlsbad, Calif., Hans Stuck of Austria and Johannes van
Overbeek of Danville, Calif. The new No. 10 BMW M3 will be
driven by Brian Cunningham of Danville, Ky., Peter Cunningham of
West Bend, Wis., and team newcomer Nic Jonsson of Aliso Viejo,
Calif.
"One of things that we were pleased with at Charlotte was to
watch the new M3 race competitively for three hours in only its
second race," said Tom Salkowsky, motorsport manager for BMW
of North America, Inc. "A fourth-place finish is not bad for a car
that was completed less than 30 days before that race.
"We are taking what we've learned at the first two races and
applying all that knowledge to the development of the new car.
We learned that we need to get lean and mean -- we need to shed
a few pounds and add a little bit more muscle. Silverstone will be
the opportunity for us to launch our second 2001 M3 race car in
the wake of its United States debut at the New York auto show on
April 19th."
BMW Team PTG owner Tom Milner is optimistic about the
new car. "We learned from the first two races, so I think this car is
going to be better," he said. "We know we need to work on the
engine, and that's the main thing we're doing for Silverstone." He
said the team's M3s will also sport new colors for the 500-km,
three-hour race.
Three of the team's six drivers have raced at the 3.194-mile
Silverstone track. Hans Stuck has competed there since 1975, in
Formula One, Formula Two, sports cars and touring cars. Brian
Cunningham raced for a British Formula Three team based at
Silverstone from 1993 to 1996. He met and married his wife
Susan in nearby Wicken. And team newcomer Nic Jonsson raced
Formula Three at Silverstone in 1992 and 1993.
"Silverstone is a very good challenge for us because it's a
pretty speedy track," Stuck said. "We have done some
development work on the new car, so we're looking forward to
closing the gap a little bit between the Porsches and ourselves.
"Silverstone is a top-class facility and it's one of the very few
circuits they have not destroyed by putting in any silly chicanes.
They have brought the speed down by really constructing and
building very interesting corner combinations -- even a little bit
uphill, downhill -- and it has a couple of spots where a high skill of
driving is required."
Brian Cunningham echoed Stuck's praise. "I think it's a
great step for the championship to open up at Silverstone," he
said. "It's a wonderfully professional circuit. It's a rhythm circuit
and it definitely offers some great corners for drivers. Silverstone
is a long track and it's got a lot of corners where there's a lot of
time, where you don't think there is. I think it's going to be very
important for all the drivers to really learn the track and get all the
time out of it."
The Silverstone 500 USA Challenge is scheduled to start at 1
p.m. on May 13. It will be telecast on Speedvision on May 15 from
9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The American Le Mans Series Radio Web will
broadcast live on May 12 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and on May 13
from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from noon to 4:30 p.m. All times EDT.
The broadcasts, timing and scoring, interviews, video highlights,
news and updates will be available on the American Le Mans
Series website (www.americanlemans.com).