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BMW prototypes finish fourth and fifth

3 September 2000

Munich/Fort Worth.  The BMW Motorsport cars both experienced
difficulties during Saturday's race, but a gentleman's move
determined their final finishing order.  Jean-Marc Gounon (F) and
Bill Auberlen (USA) finished fifth after problems in traffic that
forced pitstops for repairs.  A clutch problem and contact with
another car slowed the No. 42 V12, driven by JJ Lehto (FIN) and
Jorg Muller (D).  Although the No. 43 car was ahead of the No. 42
car, team manager Charly Lamm invoked team orders so the No.
42 car finished fourth, enabling Muller and Lehto to maintain their
lead in championship standings.  In the GT class, Hans-J. Stuck
(D) finished seventh in the No. 7 BMW M3.

BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm: "It was not our
race.  We encountered technical problems in BMW V12 LMR
number 42 at mid-race, so Jorg couldn't drive the car at its limit. 
And he had to pit when a slow car touched him in the rear, which
cost us time again.  Car 43 came back strong after time was lost
with incidents on the track and I want to thank Jean-Marc, who
let Jorg pass just a few minutes from the end, which will help
Jorg and JJ in the driver's championship."

JJ Lehto #42:  "It's disappointing.  We finished the race again, but
fourth was the best we could get at the moment.  We got points,
but we need to be quicker or it's going to be tough on the
championship."

Jorg Muller #42: "It was the first time we had a technical problem
with our car.  The clutch wouldn't shift down anymore, so this is
why the lap times were so inconsistent.  But finishing fourth with
a broken clutch is not too bad.  Thanks to my team-mates, it was
very fine for them to wait.  Next time, I'm going to do something
like this for them."

Bill Auberlen #43: "The car ran as good as we could make it run. 
Jean-Marc took off ahead of JJ, I carried on the same position
and then he got in and did a real good job at the end.  He had a
great car to fight with at the end and got it up to third for a little
bit.  Then the Panoz was too strong and, team orders, we had to
wait for our team car to go around."

Jean-Marc Gounon #43: "Today we showed with the 43 car that
we could be even quicker than 42.  I'm quite happy that we're
working with the team very well, on the proper line all weekend. 
At the end, it was okay for sure.  I think it was the best setup we
could achieve for this track, and that is very positive."

Hans-J. Stuck, #7, GT class:  "One hour 40 minutes in the car! 
The car was fine, then the 36 car spun in front of me and I had to
go to the gravel and knocked my front splitter off.  I lost some
power down the front straight, but no influence to the handling. 
For me the race was too short."