BMW has announced the driver/team pairings for its assault on the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife in May.
The list of drivers and the three teams running the race in M6 GT3s had been announced in February (see the story here). Now we know which drivers are assigned to which team.
Five current BMW DTM racers, including defending champion Marco Wittmann, Tom Blomqvist, Augusto Farfus, Maxime Martin, and Bruno Spengler, will contest the 24-hour race. Twelve additional BMW racers now running in various series will also be on hand. They include Nick Catsburg, John Edwards, Philipp Eng, António Félix da Costa, Jens Klingmann, Jesse Krohn, Jörg Müller, Markus Palttala, Alexander Sims, Martin Tomczyk, Richard Westbrook, and Kuno Wittmer. Four newcomers to BMW will also drive M6 GT3s at the Ring: They are young British racer Alex Lynn, former Ring 24 winner and Audi DTM racer Timo Scheider, British GT racer Tom Onslow-Cole, and Marc Basseng, 26-time winner in VLN at the Ring and overall winner of the 24-hour race in 2012.
BMW Team Schnitzer’s first car will be driven by Wittmann, Blomqvist, Tomczyk, and Farfus. Farfus will also race the second car along with Lynn, Félix da Costa, and Scheider.
Rowe Racing’s first car will be piloted by Martin, Eng, Basseng, and Sims. Current IMSA racer Sims will also drive the second car along with Westbrook, Palttala, and Catsburg.
Long-time factory racer Jörg Müller will appear in both Schubert Motorsport cars. Edwards, Klingmann, and Onslow-Cole will join him in the first M6 GT3, while Wittmer, Spengler, and Krohn will join him in the second car.
Two privateer teams, Walkenhorst Motorsport and Falken Motorsports, will also race M6 GT3s in the 24-hour race. This year’s race will be run on May 27 and 28.—Brian S. Morgan
