With the 41st ADAC Barbarossapreis, the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring will start into its last third of the season. One can well be sure that the critical stage of the year 2009 now begins with the remaining races as, apart from the decision in the championship, this most popular endurance racing series in Europe will come up again at the end of the year with a true highlight. One of these highlights is the first participation of the BMW M3 GT2 at the Nordschleife. This race car has caused a lot of excitement in the 2009 American Le Mans Series and achieved a class win in the first year of its participation. In addition, the ten participants of the OPC Race Camp – the motorsport casting format around former DTM star driver Manuel Reuter – will gain their first experiences in the ‘green hell’. The eighth round of the season will start as usual at 12 o’clock and the previous fight about the positions on the starting grid will take place between 08:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.. Once the engines will be stopped in the Eifel region after the 4 hours race distance, things will really continue to take off. For the first time ever, the official prizegiving ceremony will take place in the ‘Eifel-Stadl’, the adventure discotheque at the Eifel village ‘Green Hell’, from 06:00 p.m.. The spectators will hereby for the first time ever have the opportunity to party together with the successful drivers and to finish off the evening after an unforgettable racing day.
Amongst the starters at the 41st ADAC Barbarossapreis will be Jörg Müller (Hückelhoven) and Augusto Farfus (Brazil) in a BMW M3 GT2 entered by Schnitzer-Motorsport which is based in Freilassing nearby Munich. Two weeks later, Dirk Müller (Burbach) and Andy Priaulx (Great Britain) will take over the steering wheel of the 485 HP strong race car. “I associate many emotional moments with the Nordschleife”, said Schnitzer team manager Charly Lamm. “In particular when I think of the years 2004 and 2005 when we scored two one-two wins at the 24 Hour Races respectively with two BMW M3 GTR. It is a great feeling to be in charge of two participations in rounds of the endurance racing championship at the Nordschleife now again with the successor model, the BMW M3 GT2, after four years. Even though these are only tests to further develop the race car, I am really looking forward to see it at the Nordschleife. Our four drivers Jörg, Andy, Augusto and Dirk are of course as full of anticipation as I am. And I am sure that many fans feel the same …\\”
Although these are only tests, the competitors will carefully observe the performance of the new BMW race car which is classified in class E1-XP to see if a new Nordschleife star is growing up here. It is a long way to success in the endurance racing championship, so that this racing premiere will not cause too much of a headache for the experienced top teams of the series. Manthey, Phoenix, Alzen, Mamerow, Mühlner and Kissling have gained incredible much experience at this most beautiful and most demanding race track of the world. Although the Nordschleife is not an unknown territory for Schnitzer – the advance of Porsche, Audi, Viper, Corvette and others will be difficult to beat.
