Nürburgring (DE), 2nd April 2016. The 2016 endurance racing season
has begun at the Nürburgring Nordschleife (DE), where the BMW M6 GT3
successfully completed its first race kilometres in the “Green Hell”.
The ROWE Racing, Schubert Motorsport and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams
used the season opener in the VLN Endurance Championship as a test
under race conditions, to gain important experience with the new car
ahead of the 24-hour race in May.
ROWE Racing was there with the number 22 BMW M6 GT3 driven by Klaus
Graf (DE), Markus Palttala (FI) and Richard Westbrook (GB). The second
ROWE Racing car was driven by Philipp Eng (AT), Maxime Martin (BE) and
Dirk Werner (DE). Both cars started well and made up a few places in
the early laps, before the team decided to concentrate on fine-tuning
the vehicle’s performance for the remainder of the race, finishing
outside the top-10. The number 23 car suffered technical difficulties
after running repairs had to be made, and was unable to make up lost ground.
Schubert Motorsport competed with Augusto Farfus (BR), Jesse Krohn
(FI) and Jörg Müller (DE) in the number 31 BMW M6 GT3, as well as John
Edwards (US), Jens Klingmann (DE) and Lucas Luhr (DE) in the number 32
car. They were also concentrating on testing, to find any of the car’s
weak points and fixing small problems as they arose. The number 31 car
finished outside the top-10, while number 32 retired after an accident
on the last lap.
The best-placed BMW M6 GT3 in the four-hour race was the Walkenhorst
Motorsport number 35 car. Mattias Henkola (FI) and Michele Di Martino
(DE), who won the 2015 drivers’ championship in the BMW M235i Racing
Cup, claimed seventh. The second Walkenhorst car carrying number 36,
driven by Victor Bouveng (SE) and Christian Krognes (NO), retired
after a collision.
The BMW M235i Racing Cup also allowed BMW’s DTM driver Tom Blomqvist
(GB) to make his debut on the Nordschleife. He took the opportunity to
familiarise himself with this extremely challenging circuit, where he
will compete in a Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the 24-hour
race. Blomqvist finished in third, while victory was claimed by
Michael Schrey (DE) and Alexander Mies (DE) from the Bonk Motorsport team.
Reactions after the first VLN race:
Hans-Peter Naundorf (ROWE Racing Team Principal): ”We
are happy to have got some race kilometres under our belts with the
new cars. The first impressions are positive and the new BMW M6 GT3
gives us a good base to work from. There are a few topics specific to
the Nordschleife, which we have to work on. After the bad weather of
the last few weeks, we started to work on these areas today and we can
now sit down and evaluate the data.“
Torsten Schubert (Schubert Motorsport Team
Principal): ”Due to circumstances beyond our control we could
not test on Friday, so it was clear from the start that we had to use
the race for test purposes. That changed our attitude to the race: it
wasn’t about results but about completing as many test kilometres as
possible. It was a great shame that our number 32 car had an accident
on the last lap.“
Henry Walkenhorst (Walkenhorst Motorsport Team
Principal): ”We are very pleased with the performance of the
BMW M6 GT3. Unfortunately, we lost one car due to a collision. That
was very annoying, as we need all the test kilometres we can get.
Despite that, this first race with the new car was a success – due in
no small part to the great support from BMW Motorsport.“
Maxime
Martin (ROWE Racing): ”The first impressions of the
new car on the North Loop were really good. However, we also know that
we have a lot of work still to do. The car provides a good starting
point, but we now have to develop it further.“
Lucas Luhr (Schubert Motorsport): ”I had problems
with the power steering and had to make an extra pit stop, which cost
us a lot of time. However, overall I am very pleased with the BMW M6
GT3. Teething problems can occur with any new car, and it is more
important that I feel fine behind the wheel. The BMW M6 GT3 drives
particularly well through the fast corners and has a lot of potential.“
Michele Di Martino (Walkenhorst Motorsport): “I am
very pleased with our eighth place finish. It was definitely a
successful race debut for the BMW M6 GT3. We had a good start and
completed the race without major problems – let’s hope it stays that way.“