Three National BMW Teams Line Up for Season Opener in Monza Munich, 22nd March, 2004. It has been a busy winter of testing for the three national BMW teams competing in the ten rounds of the FIA European Touring Car Championship, which gets underway again this weekend at Monza, Italy.

As far as the teams are concerned it is a repeat of 2003 with BMW Team Deutschland, BMW Team Great Britain and BMW Team Italy-Spain. Four of the five drivers are the same with Jörg Müller in Car No 42 and Dirk Müller in Car No 43 for Deutschland, Andy Priaulx in Car No 11 for Great Britain and Antonio Garcia in Car No 5 but one of the most exciting additions to the whole championship is Alessandro Zanardi in Car No 4 for the Italy-Spain team.

BMW is determined to defend its 2003 ETCC Manufacturers' title and, although there have been very few changes allowed to the BMW 320i since last season, this has not stopped BMW Motorsport working hard to extract as much power as possible from the 2 litre engine and added performance from the chassis. BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen, commented: "We want to defend our 2003 European Manufacturers' title and will fight hard to see a BMW driver win the European Championship as well. We have a commitment to BMW customers around the world, which we take very seriously. We want to give customer teams with a professional approach the chance to take part in high-level, affordable touring car racing with the BMW 320i."

The development work on the tracks has been undertaken by BMW works drivers, Jörg Müller and Dirk Müller, who will be team-mates in the Schnitzer Motorsport run BMW Team Deutschland cars for the third consecutive season. Jörg, runner up in the drivers' title chase for the past two years, is realistic about how tough the series is going to be: "I think the competition at the front is going to be a lot tighter, which makes it more interesting, so I am looking forward to the season."

Dirk feels the work done since the end of the 2003 season should pay off: "We had a really busy winter. The engineers did a hell of a job the last couple of years. I just can't wait for the season to start again."

The sentiments of the two unrelated Müllers are echoed by their team manager, Charly Lamm, who said: "We are eager to get into the racing season. We have covered 4,500 kilometres in testing with the BMW 320i ETCC. We have two brand new chassis to start the season and can only feel positive after the winter, even though we didn't always encounter good weather at the tests. The championship has developed and expanded and we are excited to see how it has grown in both quality and quantity."

For Andy Priaulx, driving for BMW Team Great Britain, 2004 will be his second European Championship year in the ETCC series. He had a dream start last year as he was still in with a chance of the title right until the final round. RBM, who run his car, rolled it out for the first time at the ETCC press day at the beginning of March. Andy didn't see this as a problem: "We made the decision to put the effort into building the new car rather than testing the old one, and this has paid off. It immediately felt good and I am very confident for the start of the ETCC season back in Monza." His team manager, Bart Mampaey, is also feeling optimistic about the season although admitting Monza is a problem track for one car teams: "Here slip streaming is very much part of doing well. But, however, I feel we are starting on a higher level than last year."

Another driver for whom 2004 is his second season in the ETCC series is Antonio Garcia, from BMW Team Italy-Spain. After a three day test at Spa last week he commented: "I have a lot of data in my head. While overall I think the car is very good I have to be realistic as we have to see how the other teams are. After first free practice in Monza we will see what happens."

Without doubt the man the fans are all looking forward to seeing in a BMW in 2004 is Alessandro Zanardi. He made a 'guest' appearance at the season finale in 2003 and the outcome of that is a full year for the Ravaglia Motorsport run BMW Team Italy-Spain. He has many old friends in the team, as well as team boss, Roberto Ravaglia, and this played an important part in his decision: "I love going back racing and doing it with people I know and trust. I wanted to be able to test as much as the other drivers, despite the fact I knew the team had a lot of extra work building my car with its special requirements." After his horrendous accident in a CART race in Germany in 2001 when Alessandro lost both his legs above the knee, special modifications have had to be made to the car. The team have moved his throttle to the steering wheel, the brake is where the throttle is normally located and the clutch is now a small lever on the gear lever. "Also BMW Motorsport have done a great job over the winter time helping us with the special systems needed to my car. A major factor for me has been having a team mate like Antonio Garcia who is very fast as he is a great reference point for me."

Roberto Ravaglia is also optimistic about his team's chances: "I believe we have improved a lot since last year and the fact we have tested at fifty per cent of the circuits we will race at is very positive. For Alessandro's car we have worked with both Fabil and BMW Motorsport on his special requirements and improved them greatly since the Monza race. He has also done about 6,000 kilometres of testing so I know both him and Antonio have done the best possible preparation for the season."

Schedule:Saturday, 27 March 09.00 - 09.30 - Free Practice 1 12.45 - 13.15 - Free Practice 215.15 - 15.45 - QualifyingSunday, 28 March 09.30 - 09.45 - Warm Up14.45 - Race 1 - 9 laps (51.93km)15.45 - Race 2 - 9 laps (51.93km)