Victory for the DEGUSSA BMW

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The second heat of the BFGoodrich-Long-Distance-Touring-Car-Championship became a triumphal run for the BMW 135 DBD of the team “Racing Event Motorsport”. After the unlucky first race with the broken motor suspension, this time everything worked out well. The external circumstances were perfect. At 25° Celsius and a brilliant blue sky round about 30.000 fans came to the Nordschleife. They saw a great performance of the strong, biodiesel powered BMW One in the class SP 11.

Already the training went really well. Guido Wirtz, alias Bugs Bunny, achieved with 9:43,791 the second best time in the class. “I was surprised by that time. I just intended to let the car run easily, actually there had been a lot more possible.” But the team decided to spare the car. “Why should we try by hook or by crook to gain the pole position?”, with starting position two head of the team Andre Ibron was fully satisfied.

The team decided to use the hard tire compound, so they need not change wheels during the race. “Though we had slower lap times, the policy finally worked out well”, Andre Ibron said afterwards. All the teams which went for the soft compound had to change tires during the 4-Hours-Race.

The first stint took head of the team, Andre Ibron, himself. “The car went well. I held the horses a little and dropped back one place. In front of our group was a big scramble and I decided not to barge in”, he knew, the race would be won over the whole time and not at the first bend. Nevertheless Andre Ibron drove the fastest lap during his stint. As scheduled he passed the BMW after an hour to Franz Groß.

At this point the white BMW One was at rank three in the class. However Franz Groß really pushed the car forward. At his stint he not only forged the car ahead but also lapped the Dieselspeed BMW which was at that time on rank three. Franz Groß passed the car to Bugs Bunny with a jut of 1:50 minutes to the second placed Fuchs Oil BMW 330D. “It was a great race. The DEGUSSA BMW went really well and I would have loved to continue”, Franz Groß resumed his stint.

Bugs Bunny had hardly the time to fasten his seatbelt while entering the car. Within only 55 seconds the BMW was dispatched and went back on the track. Thus the team could keep the lead and Bugs Bunny just had to drive the victory home. But racers don’t really know the word “slowly” and so he finally crossed the finishing line with a jut of 1 round and 54 seconds to rank two. Furthermore Bugs Bunny struggled through to position 39 of the main classification. “During the final lap I was nearly sneaking because of the lacking pressure from behind. I’m very happy with the performance of the DEGUSSA BMW. It has got a great roadholding and is very fast.”

The success is due to a corporate team effort. Also the pit-crew of the team “Racing Event Motorsport” did a perfect job. ”Up to now we couldn’t manage a pit-stop with driver change and fuelling in less than a minute, a great achievement”, the head of the team commended his crew.

Bolstered by this victory the team is looking forward to the next race. The third heat of the BFGoodrich-Long-Distance-Touring-Car-Championship will be the ADAC ACAS H&R Cup on April the 28^th.