Nürburgring 24 Hours: start list published for highlight of season.
The countdown is on: it is now just three weeks (16th/17th May) until the highlight of the endurance season at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, in the form of the iconic 24-hour race.
As it does every year, the starting grid will feature a large contingent of BMW racing cars. In the SP9 class for GT3 cars, a total of six BMW Z4 GT3s will be in action. BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert and BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS will both field two BMW Z4 GT3s. Dirk Werner, Dirk Müller, Alexander Sims and DTM champion Marco Wittmann will compete in BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert’s number 19 BMW Z4 GT3. The second BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert car – number 20 – will be driven by Jens Klingmann, Dominik Baumann, Claudia Hürtgen and BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk. This quartet was victorious a fortnight ago at the six-hour qualifying race for the 24 Hours on the Nordschleife.
At the wheel of the number 25 BMW Z4 GT3 of BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS will be BMW DTM driver Maxime Martin, Lucas Luhr, Markus Palttala and Richard Westbrook. The number 26 BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS car also boasts a strong squad of drivers in Jörg Müller, Nick Catsburg, Dirk Adorf and Augusto Farfus from the DTM.
Walkenhorst Motorsport will field a further two BMW Z4 GT3s: John Edwards, Michela Cerruti, Felipe Laser and Ferdinand Stuck will drive the number 17 car. The second car, number 18, will be shared by team principal Henry Walkenhorst, Ralf Oeverhaus, Christian Bollrath and Stefan Aust. In addition, more than 40 other BMW racing cars will compete in the various classes in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Fifteen cars have registered for the BMW M235i Racing Cup, the Cup 5 class. As it did last year, the BMW M235i Racing media car will compete again in 2015. This will be run by BMW Motorsport in cooperation with Walkenhorst Motorsport. It will be driven by BMW Motorsport Junior Victor Bouveng and Harald Grohs, together with motorsport journalists Bernd Ostmann and Christian Gebhardt.
