Nürburgring, 27th March 2010. In the first round of the 2010 VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife Team BMW Motorsport crossed the line after fours hours of racing in third. Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) and Pedro Lamy (PT) put in a faultless performance at the wheel of the no. 742 BMW M3 GT2 and were rewarded with the first podium of the season. Their team-mates, Dirk Werner (DE), Dirk Müller (DE) and Dirk Adorf (DE), however, were forced to retire with the BMW M3 GT2 (no. 743) after two laps. The reason for this was a technical defect with the power steering which couldn’t be repaired.
The new BMW Z4 GT3 celebrated a successful debut at the Nordschleife: The Schubert Motorsport run no. 91 car – with, among others, BMW works driver, Jörg Müller (DE), at the wheel – finished ninth in the overall classification. The second BMW Z4 GT3 came 11th.
Charly Lamm (Team Manager):“It’s great to be back at the Nordschleife. Today we saw once again just how exciting and fiercely fought the races at this circuit are. Of course I view this result with mixed emotions. The car number 743 BMW M3 GT2 had to retire early due to a problem with the steering hydraulics. The no. 742 car, however, proved that we are competitive with the BMW M3 GT2 at this track. After yesterday’s changeable conditions it stayed dry today. Our Dunlop tyres worked very well.”
Augusto Farfus (Car Number 742):“It feels great to be on the podium here at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife. We wanted to clock as many kilometres here as possible and to learn as much as we could. This worked out fine with our car. However, our rivals also proved that they will be a hard nut to crack at the 24-hour race. We will keep on working hard in order to be well-prepared for this event.”
Uwe Alzen (Car Number 742):“It was good fun out there today. My start was okay, although I had to let a few cars pass. But then the Dunlop tyres performed at their best, and I was pushing hard – almost as if it had been a sprint race. I was able to close the gap to the front-runners again and to hand over the car to Pedro Lamy running in second. There lies a lot of work ahead of us over the next weeks. But the start was promising. It’s nice to stand on the podium after our very first race.”
Pedro Lamy (Car Number 742):“My stint was alright. At this track there are always many yellow flags and incidents over the course of the lap. You think that you lose too much time due to this, but the others have the same problem. This race weekend was perfect for me to tune myself in for the Nordschleife and the car. I had the chance to drive in the dry as well as in the wet. It didn’t take long for the right rhythm to return.”
Dirk Werner (Car Number 743):“Our car was good in qualifying. We had approached the session quite relaxed, as grid positions are generally not too important in such a long race. The start itself was a bit unlucky for me. A car in front of me slowed down, and I got passed by some competitors. But then I managed to work my way up into tenth before we had to stop. It’s a pity that we could only complete two laps, as every kilometre counts in preparation for the 24-hour race. Congratulations to Uwe, Pedro and Augusto. They showed the potential of our car.”
