BMW Hails ‘Better Than Ever Expected’ Result for M3 Touring

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/BMW

BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos has hailed the top-five overall finish for the BMW M3 Touring 24H in the Nürburgring 24 as a ‘better than expected’ result for the one-off race car that started as an April Fools joke less than 14 months ago.

Jens Klingmann, Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen and Ugo de Wilde drove the GT3-based estate/wagon to a fifth place result and class victory in the SP-X class, after running as high as second overall in the Eifel endurance classic.

“My goal was to have the car in the top-ten,” Roos told reporters post-race. “We managed to have the car in the top-five. We have to say the car was always able to be hang there and to have a great race.

“It’s better what we ever expected to do with the Touring, to be honest.

“We always said if we go here with the Touring, it has to be a competitive car. But it was that competitive that we can have at the end a top five result is great.

“When you see how the fans and the people and the community loved it, everything was perfect.”

Roos said he was impressed when he saw De Phillippi pass both of the Winward Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos in the sixth hour, to put the car second overall at the time.

“I think he did an amazing job,” he said. “It was tricky conditions at that stage; it was drizzling a bit. He had the speed and grip to overtake them, so it was nice to see.”

Verhagen said the expectations changed over the course of the weekend once they saw how competitive the car, based on the M4 GT3 EVO, performed on the Nordschleife after limited mileage with the package.

“We thought a top-ten finish would be great,” he said. “As we got into the race and got settled in, the expectations then started to go further, a top-five, and then in the end we were like, ‘Oh a podium is even possible for us.’

“In the end, it’s a great feeling [to finish fifth] but at the same time a podium would have been nice.

“The racer in me is a bit disappointed that we didn’t get the podium but for the global picture, I think it was an incredible project that BMW Motorsport put together.

“I hope the fans enjoyed it. It’s a spectacular car to look at, so hopefully it was looking as fast as good as it looked out on pit lane.

“I’m just very proud and thankful to BMW to be able to be on this project.”

While the Schubert Motorsport-run entry was delayed by an early race 45-second penalty for a yellow flag infringement, it otherwise enjoyed a trouble-free run, apart from several off-course excursions amid tricky track conditions.

“In the end, we just got unlucky with some of the code-zones,” said Verhagen.

“We caught a lot of Code 60s, and when we looked back at the race, where we lost all the time was pretty much in those zones to where the podium positions were.

“For sure everyone has their Code 60s. I think we just ended up getting a couple extras that some of the other guys didn’t, and maybe [getting caught behind] a couple of guys going a little slower than the 60s and the 120s in the zones, which obviously hurt us a little bit as well.”

De Phillippi added: “This track chooses you. We got unlucky three or four times where we lost large amounts of time with Code 60s, where I sat in it the whole time and then it cleared for the group behind.

“We lost over a minute just from that. I don’t know if it would have been enough to be on the podium but there were points in the race that were a little bit frustrating.

“It was like one step forward, two steps back with getting unlucky. But that’s how this race goes and that’s you love it and hate it at the same time.

“But a big piece of history was written with this whole project. I’m just super proud of everybody.”

Verhagen added: “I think we’ve done something super special here and I hope that this car will go down in the history books and this will be remembered for a very long time.”

Source: Sports Car 365