Photo: BMW
It was a good race for the BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS at the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend, as the guys managed to finish second overall, just missing out on the top spot at the end of it all. The number 25 BMW Z4 GT3 car crossed the line 40.729 seconds behind the winners, marking the closest finish in the history of the race since 1970.
The 43rd running of the endurance classic saw the car driven by Maxime Martin, Lucas Luhr, Markus Palttala and Richard Westbrook cross the finish line after 156 laps. If they had won this race, it would’ve been the 20th time the German company claimed the number one spot.
On the other hand, the second Z4 GT3 car entered by Team Marc VDS in this contest, wearing the number 26 finished shy of the podium as well. Dirk Adorf, Augusto Farfus, Nick Catsburg and Jorg Muller came in fourth overall despite showing a strong performance. As a matter of fact, Catsburg posted the fastest time of the entire race on lap 120 being clocked at 8:18.690 minutes.
Other teams running the BMW Z4 GT3 car weren’t all that lucky, unfortunately. Walkenhorst Motorsport Teams’ number 17 car driven by Felipe Laser, Michela Cerruti, John Edwards and Daniel Keilwitz came in sixth while their sister car finished 15th overall. It could’ve been a lot worse though, as the guys from BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert found, both of their cars being forced to retire after crashing.
“In a thrilling race, we eventually finished an excellent second and came within a whisker of winning. That is a fantastic result for the BMW Z4 GT3 on its last works-assisted outing – especially given the strong opposition. Although we did not quite get our 20th overall victory, the combination of a flawless job by the team and drivers, and a robust, mature car kept the race extremely exciting right through to the finish,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt.
As he mentioned, the Z4 GT3 will be retired this year, its place to be taken by the new M6 GT3 race car that was unveiled ahead of the race, unfortunately still wearing camo. The new car will be sporting the 4.4-liter V8 from the road-going version but detuned to 500 HP with a weight of around 1.3 tons.
On the other hand, the second Z4 GT3 car entered by Team Marc VDS in this contest, wearing the number 26 finished shy of the podium as well. Dirk Adorf, Augusto Farfus, Nick Catsburg and Jorg Muller came in fourth overall despite showing a strong performance. As a matter of fact, Catsburg posted the fastest time of the entire race on lap 120 being clocked at 8:18.690 minutes.
Other teams running the BMW Z4 GT3 car weren’t all that lucky, unfortunately. Walkenhorst Motorsport Teams’ number 17 car driven by Felipe Laser, Michela Cerruti, John Edwards and Daniel Keilwitz came in sixth while their sister car finished 15th overall. It could’ve been a lot worse though, as the guys from BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert found, both of their cars being forced to retire after crashing.
“In a thrilling race, we eventually finished an excellent second and came within a whisker of winning. That is a fantastic result for the BMW Z4 GT3 on its last works-assisted outing – especially given the strong opposition. Although we did not quite get our 20th overall victory, the combination of a flawless job by the team and drivers, and a robust, mature car kept the race extremely exciting right through to the finish,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt.
As he mentioned, the Z4 GT3 will be retired this year, its place to be taken by the new M6 GT3 race car that was unveiled ahead of the race, unfortunately still wearing camo. The new car will be sporting the 4.4-liter V8 from the road-going version but detuned to 500 HP with a weight of around 1.3 tons.
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