BMW M3 GTR V8 (Gaby)
BMW Motorsport
Schnitzer Motorsport
This Legendary 2001 BMW M3 GTR ALMS is icon car in NFS Most Wanted 2005
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Event: European Le Mans Series Donington Park
Date: 14.4.2001
Track: Donington Park (United Kingdom)
Distance: 2 hours 45 minutes
Start time: 12:07
Weather: Cloudy, Cold, Intermittent rain
Grand Touring (GT) Class fastest lap: #43 BMW M3 GTR V8 driven by Fredrik Ekblom 1:36.362 153.360 km/h
GT Class pole position: #43 BMW M3 GTR V8 driven by Fredrik Ekblom 1:33.724 154.529 km/h
The ALMS championship joined up with the European Le Mans Series for the 3rd and 4th round. First up was the event at Donington. Both Schnitzer cars were now equipped with the V8, and BMW was eager to see where they would end up. Sadly the race ended in bitter disappointment when the #43 car broke its differential, putting it out of the race.
Further disaster occurred when #42 car sprung an oil leak and caught fire in the pits. A dejected BMW walked away from Donington with zero points. Luckily, the second European round at Jarama softened the blow considerably, as the cars scored a confident 1-2 finish.
BMW Motorsport's new BMW M3 GTRs showed impressive pace in the European round of the American Le Mans Series at Donington Park, but both cars struck trouble and retired before the chequered flag.
The race started in fine style with Fredrik Ekblom - driving the car he shared with Dirk Muller - moving into an immediate lead and gradually edging away from the chasing pack. JJ Lehto, in the second car, also made rapid progress from the back of the grid, where he had had to start after problems stopped the car from posting a qualifying time.
Ekblom reigned supreme at the head of the field, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap four, as Lehto moved quickly up to third place. Then the Swede's V8 engine began to suffer a misfire, a problem which required several pit-stops to repair.
"It was great when we achieved pole position and when we were running up front," Ekblom said, "The car was very nicely balanced. The BMW M3 GTR has great potential. We'll come back stronger in Spain for sure."
Lehto was called in for a stop-go penalty for a yellow flag offence, but was soon back on-track and catching up, when he was pushed into a spin. Despite bodywork and splitter damage, Lehto closed on the leaders again, before handing the car over to his partner Jorg Muller.
"The first lap was okay," Lehto reported, "I did a lot of overtaking, but then we had our problems. Frank Biela hit me off, which cost us a lot of time, but despite the body damage, the handling was good enough after that for us to close in on the Porsches again."
The German continued Lehto's good work, but a vibration from the front tyres prompted him to make the car's second scheduled stop early. When he tried to rejoin, a brief fire broke out which, although quickly extinguished, cost more time before Muller could rejoin. The car continued, but retired after completing 81 laps.
"I can't remember the last time at the end of the race none of our cars was running," sighed BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm, "Ekblom's car had a fuel feed problem, and we changed components during its several pit-stops. It then seemed to be running okay, when a differential problem forced us to stop.
"The other car lost time due to incidents on the track. Once we picked up a rhythm, Jorg felt a vibration, which was why we called him in earlier. The fire which occurred at the re-start was most likely caused by a leaking injector. It looked spectacular, but was not a big problem. We could continue, but were then forced to stop by an engine oil leak. Today was bad, but we will work hard and will be back at Jarama."
The Alex Job Racing Porsches put on an impressive display to win the GT class at Donington, with Sascha Maassen moving ahead of Ekblom's BMW to take the class lead before the BMW started to suffer from its technical woes.
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