BMW M3 GTR makes history as it bows out in the Eifel.
Team BMW Motorsport claimed a first in the 33rd edition of the Nürburgring
24-Hour Race: never before in the history of this endurance classic had
a team managed to claim a one-two win in two consecutive years. In 2004,
the Schnitzer racing team under manager Charly Lamm (GER) and in
collaboration with the BMW Motorsport engineers had managed to cross the
finishing line in first and second places. Then on 7th/8th May 2005,
the BMW M3 GTR again proved the measure of all things in the Eifel.
After 139 laps, the number 2 GT sports car with 500 bhp was first to take the
chequered flag. Boris Said (USA), the final driver, rounded off the victory for
himself and his three team-mates Andy Priaulx (GBR), Duncan Huisman (NLD)
and Pedro Lamy (PRT). Five laps behind them the previous year’s winners
from Germany – Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller and Hans-Joachim Stuck – finished
the exciting event as runners-up.
For BMW it was the 18th overall win and the eighth clean sweep in the
“Green Hell”. No car brand has raked in more wins on the legendary
Nordschleife than the Munich manufacturers. With 104 class wins, BMW was
also able to boost its unmatched tally to claim more than double the
score of second-placed Opel, which has taken 48 class wins since 1970.
“Nobody really thought it would be possible to replicate the perfect result of
the previous year,” said BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. “But the
team did it. Conditions were anything but straightforward, but both the
drivers and the pit crew kept their cool – and that’s what counts in a marathon
like this. A huge compliment to the team. With this victory, the BMW M3 GTR
has retired from the race track in impressive style.”
180,000 spectators in the German Eifel region were treated to a thrilling race.
The weather was so changeable that strategist Lamm was forced several
times to respond instantly to new conditions. As in the previous year, the team
manager’s decisions proved right in most cases. For the drivers, too,
the Nordschleife had plenty of surprises in store: “During my last laps it was
snowing,” noted Huisman. “That’s something I’ve never experienced
before in a 24-Hour Race.”