For the 2010 season BMW Motorsport has a varied programme, with the focus being upon the production car-based categories in which the company has long proven successful. The entries of the new BMW M3 GT2 spearhead the BMW Motorsport campaign. After a successful debut season in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), BMW sends the 500 bhp GT sports car into action on European circuits in 2010.
Highlights of the season will be the classic 24-hour races at the Nürburgring (DE) and in Le Mans (FR), while BMW will also contest the European Le Mans Series (LMS) and selected events forming part of the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring. This year also sees the racing version of the fourth generation BMW M3 take part in the ALMS, while BMW Team RBM will contest the World Touring Car Championship with the BMW 320si WTCC. The promotion and development of young talent will continue via the Formula BMW Europe and Formula BMW Pacific series, with BMW’s highly successful customer racing programme rounding off BMW Motorsport’s 2010 offering.
Says BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen: “We are pleased to be able to offer BMW fans across the world a wide and varied programme during this season. The focus of our programme is production car-based motorsport. We will once again contest the WTCC with the BMW 320si, and, after its very promising debut in the 2009 ALMS series, the BMW M3 GT2 will be campaigned in Europe this year. The classic long distance events at the Nürburgring and in Le Mans represent a special challenge. We have been very successful in these events, and once again intend fighting at the front this year.”
While the BMW M3 GT2 programme in the ALMS will again be in the hands of the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, BMW has delegated responsibility for the 24-hour races, Le Mans Series and VLN races to its long-standing test and development partner Schnitzer Motorsport. The team, managed by Charly Lamm (DE), looks back on a long, successful tradition in GT racing, and is relishing a return to sports car racing after eight seasons in touring cars.
“In 2010 we will race at circuits with illustrious motor racing histories,” says Lamm. “We have managed to win numerous 24-hour races at the Nürburgring, while Le Mans has offered us fewer opportunities of showing our colours. However, our overall victory there in 1999 with the BMW V12 LMR marks probably our team’s greatest success to date. We intend to build on all these successes in 2010.”
Endurance racing is familiar – and highly successful – territory for BMW, with the biggest success in the category coming in 1999, when Team BMW Motorsport claimed overall victory in the classic Le Mans 24 Hours. The brand was represented in the prototype category by the BMW V12 LMR, driven to a historic win by Pierluigi Martini (IT), Yannick Dalmas (FR) and Joachim Winkelhock (DE). This year’s running of the event will see the BMW M3 GT2 start in the tightly contested LM GT2 class.
In Le Mans BMW will be highlighting something very special, continuing its BMW Art Car tradition. The livery of one of Team BMW Motorsport’s brace of BMW M3 GT2 cars is designed by American artist Jeff Koons. The “Circuit de la Sarthe” is the birthplace of BMW’s Art Car Collection, with many of the 16 motorsport art works painted to date proving their mettle in the 24-hour race. In 1979 the BMW M1 painted by Andy Warhol (US) managed sixth overall in the marathon event.
BMW is by far the most successful manufacturer at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, with the company having tasted success there on no less than 18 occasions since 1970. On its last appearances in the “Green Hell” in 2004 and 2005, BMW scored two consecutive victories with the BMW M3 GTR – then a unique feat among manufacturers. In the American Le Mans Series BMW entered the record books in 2001 when the BMW M3 GTR proved victorious in all categories: Jörg Müller (DE) took the GT Drivers’ Championship, with BMW Motorsport winning the team prize, and BMW claiming the Manufacturers’ Championship in the company’s most important foreign market.
In order to be best-prepared for these classic events in 2010, BMW will contest the Le Mans Series and selected rounds of the VLN Endurance Championship. In the LMS the team will enter under the BMW Team Schnitzer banner. Five events, in Le Castellet (FR), Spa-Francorchamps (BE), Portimão (PT), Budapest (HU) and Silverstone (GB) make up the programme. The VLN races at the Nürburgring provide perfect preparation for the first 24-hour race of the season on 15th and 16th May, scheduled for the same venue.Between 2005 and 2009 Schnitzer Motorsport competed in the World Touring Car Championship, winning 25 races. “The WTCC was made up of sprint races which required a specialised way of working. These are, though, no longer important given our new brief,” says Lamm. “However, we are sufficiently experienced to be able to adapt quickly to the rhythm of GT racing. Every single team member is highly motivated.”
BMW Motorsport’s driver line-up offers a well-balanced mix of speed and experience. It’s only this combination that determines the competitiveness of a driver in endurance racing. The squad is led by Jörg Müller and Dirk Werner (DE). These two BMW works drivers will drive the BMW M3 GT2 in the Le Mans Series, and will also contest the 24-hour classics.With his overall victory in the 2001 American Le Mans Series, Müller laid down a GT marker. In addition, the veteran draws on immense experience at Le Mans and has claimed victory in the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours. In 2004 he formed part of BMW Motorsport’s winning team at the Nordschleife. Werner is a new addition to the BMW works drivers’ line-up – but by no means a stranger to endurance racing. He scored two victories in the American Grand-Am Series and competed successfully in numerous 24-hour races.The other six in the team can also look back on plenty of wins and titles. Dirk Müller (DE) is a proven GT specialist. In 2000 he won the ALMS, and was placed top of the FIA GT Championship points’ table in 2007. Together with Jörg Müller and Hans-Joachim Stuck (DE) he celebrated victory at the Nürburgring in 2004. In 2010 Dirk Müller will contest his second American Le Mans Series season for the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team. His team-mates in thie category are once again Joey Hand (US), Bill Auberlen (US) and Tommy Milner (US).
Also competing in two different racing categories this year are triple world touring car champion Andy Priaulx (GB), who made up part of BMW’s winning team on the Nürburgring in 2005, and Augusto Farfus (BR). The duo is contesting the WTCC with BMW Team RBM.With four victories in 24-hour races at the Nürburgring, Pedro Lamy (PT) is one of the circuit’s most successful racers, and has amassed GT knowledge in a variety of series since 1997. Uwe Alzen (DE), too, has widespread experience, having won at both the Nordschleife and Spa-Francorchamps. Completing the line-up is Dirk Adorf (DE), a true Nürburgring expert who has won the VLN Endurance Championship three times and in 2009 set a new lap record for the Eifel circuit.
In their fight for points and victories all eight drivers are able to rely on a powerful ally: the latest racing version of the BMW M3. This convincing high performance sports car, built by BMW M GmbH using the BMW 3 Series Coupé as its base, is powered by a 420 bhp V8 engine in its production version. For racing purposes the motorsport genes and technical innovations of the production BMW M3 are further enhanced, with the BMW M3 GT2 producing approximately 500 bhp in a promising overall package.
