At this weekend's 24 Hours of Spa, BMW Motorsport's "Dream Team" of Alessandro Zanardi, Timo Glock, and Bruno Spengler will be racing in a Z4 GT3 with a special livery. It will feature a cartoon-style design, as an homage to the iconic Belgian comic series about racing driver “Michel Vaillant”.
“Our priority for any race is to catch the eye through our sporting success – and we are confident we are well positioned to do precisely that at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “However, if we also have the opportunity to please the fans with a special car design, we are only too happy to take it. The stories of comic hero ‘Michel Vaillant’ are known well beyond the Belgian border. I think this design is excellently suited to our extraordinary project with Alex Zanardi, Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler.”
The hood of the BMW Z4 GT3 will be adorned with cartoon caricatures of the three BMW drivers Zanardi, Glock and Spengler, while the caption “Vrooaaw” will take up most the sides of the car. Therefore, the car is reminiscent of “Michel Vaillant”, whose fictitious racing-driver adventures have enjoyed a large fan base around the world since 1957. The strip appeared in the “Tintin” comic and is in the tradition of the famous “Tim & Struppi” stories. Even today, new “Michel Vaillant” adventures are being published.
“I think there are very few racing drivers who did not read the ‘Michel Vaillant’ stories when they were young and then dream of their own great career as a racing driver,” said Glock. “You need heroes when you are young, and ‘Michel Vaillant’ was one such hero,” added Spengler. “I’m really proud of this livery.”
You can follow along as the race unfolds on the BMW Motorsport Social Media Stream.—Nate Risch
