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BMW Strong in Six Hours of Rain at Nuerburgring

10 July 2000

          NUERBURG, Germany (July 9, 2000) -- BMW Motorsport
scored a tough second-place finish in the rain-soaked
Bitburger/AvD 1000 km Le Mans Race on the 2.830-mile
Nuerburgring circuit.  JJ Lehto of Finland started the No. 42 BMW
V12 LMR fourth on the 38-car grid and moved up to hold third
place, despite early contact with the No. 77 Audi.  Co-driver Jorg
Muller of Germany took the lead late in the race and built up more
than a 40-second margin until a tire started to deflate, forcing him
to relinquish the lead and finish second behind the No. 1 Panoz. 
The No. 43 BMW V12 LMR, driven by Bill Auberlen of Redondo
Beach, Calif., and Jean-Marc Gounon of France, finished 10th
after several incidents caused by the inclement conditions.

          BMW Team PTG ran a strong race in the GT class.  The No.
10 Yokohama BMW M3 started sixth and finished fourth, with
drivers Peter Cunningham of West Bend, Wis., Brian Cunningham
of Danville, Ky., and Nic Jonsson of Aliso Viejo, Calif.  Hans Stuck
of Austria, Boris Said of Carlsbad, Calif., and Johannes van
Overbeek of Danville, Calif., started seventh and finished sixth in
the No. 6 Flextronics/Level One BMW M3.

          "With Audi bringing their Le Mans-winning cars and Panoz
always being very tough competitors, a second-place finish is a
very successful time at the Nuerburgring," said Tom Salkowsky,
motorsport manager for BMW of North America, Inc.

          He was also pleased with BMW Team PTG's performance. 
"Under the conditions, I was happy with the way we progressed
from the three-hour practice on Friday to how we qualified.  The
team did very well in the pits and the drivers were excellent under
very tough conditions.  All in all, we're happy with our results, with
a fourth and a sixth."

          Stuck started the No. 6 M3, but was hindered by contact
with a Porsche 10 minutes into the five-hour, 45-minute race. 
After a seven-minute pit stop, he returned to the race in last place. 
With stints of about 75 minutes each, Stuck, Said and van
Overbeek worked their way back through the field.  Stuck drove
the final two hours of the race and scored the sixth-place finish.

          "The crew did a great job changing the tie rod and then we
just made our way back up," Stuck said.  "Thanks to Boris and
Johannes and to a great car, we picked up a little bit of time.  It
was kind of my weather and I enjoyed every single lap in the car. 
It's a pity it's over already."

          Said also enjoyed the wet ride, despite 20 laps with a
malfunctioning windshield wiper.  "I had a good time driving
around in the rain, but it's too bad the windshield wiper stopped
working," he said.  "It was a little hard to see out the front,
especially when the prototype cars went by.  But our cars were
competitive in the rain, for sure."

          Peter Cunningham drove the first and last stints in the No. 10
car, with Nic Jonsson and Brian Cunningham filling the second
and third.  The trio held third place through most of the race, but
dropped back one position when Brian Cunningham spun off
track in wet conditions he described as "rivers" on the track.

          "As more and more rain came down, the ground got
saturated and larger and larger rivers came out," he said.  "I knew
where one was, but it was a little larger than I expected.  I was just
trying to get some more time out of the car but when I hit that
river, it just spun me around.

          "The rain was challenging," he continued.  "I think it kind of
evened the field and made it more of a drivers' race than a
horsepower race.  Our times show we were two of the fastest cars
out there."

          Both BMW teams are now preparing for the American Le
Mans Series race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., on
July 23.