In the second round of the VLN Endurance Championship, the no. 743 BMW M3 GT2 of Team BMW Motorsport finished 48th overall. Starting driver Andy Priaulx (GB) had to pit in at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife (DE) on lap 4, due to a broken driveshaft. Following a 30-minute repair stop the GT sports car rejoined the race, way outside the top-100. Priaulx and his team-mates Augusto Farfus (BR), Pedro Lamy (PT) and Dirk Adorf (DE) worked their way up over the course of the race. However, it was impossible for them to close the gap to the front-runners after the problems in the opening stage. In qualifying, Team BMW Motorsport had secured second on the grid for the four-hour race, which took a more positive course for Dirk Müller (DE). For the Schubert Motorsport team, the BMW works driver came sixth overall at the wheel of the new BMW Z4 GT3.
Charly Lamm (Team Manager): “This Saturday didn’t run as planned for us. At the Nordschleife we were in a promising position for the race after qualifying second. After a good start, however, a problem with left rear driveshaft made a 30-minute pit stop necessary. Thus we were no longer able to challenge for a top position.”
Andy Priaulx (Car Number 743, VLN): “The performance of our BMW M3 GT2 was great over the whole weekend. In qualifying we were able to claim second, and the start of the race was good fun. It looked as if we would see an exciting fight with Porsche and Audi. But the driveshaft problem threw us back early into the race. Therefore, today’s result doesn’t reflect the true competitiveness of our car.”
Dirk Müller (Car Number 91, BMW Z4 GT3, VLN): “I had good fun in today’s race. We were really happy with the BMW Z4 GT3 and managed to make another step forward with this new car. However, you had to be very careful out there today, as many, many incidents occurred. For us everything worked out perfectly. It was a great feeling to bring the car home in sixth in the final stint.”
