24h Nürburgring - Media Information.

In 2015, the legendary Nürburgring-Nordschleife will host the 24-hour race for the 43rd time. BMW has claimed more victories in the “Green Hell” than any other manufacturer. The company currently has 19 overall triumphs to its name – of which eight were one-twos. In total, BMW cars have picked up 167 class victories. In 1970, BMW was the first entry in the winners’ list at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, when Clemens Schickentanz and the young Hans-Joachim Stuck triumphed in a BMW 2002 ti. In 1998, Andreas Bovensiepen, Marc Duez, Christian Menzel and Stuck achieved the first victory for a car with a diesel engine: the BMW 320d. The last BMW victory dates back to 2010, when Augusto Farfus, Jörg Müller, Uwe Alzen and Pedro Lamy secured the win in a dramatic finale with their BMW M3 GT.

In 2015, the BMW Z4 GT3 will return to challenge for overall victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, spearheading a traditionally huge BMW contingent of teams, drivers and car models. In the cockpit will be experienced drivers, who are at home in the Green Hell, as well as some promising youngsters. BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert will field the BMW DTM drivers Marco Wittmann and Martin Tomczyk, and BMW USCC driver Dirk Werner, together with BMW works drivers Dirk Müller, Alexander Sims, Dominik Baumann, Claudia Hürtgen and Jens Klingmann. BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS is backing the BMW DTM drivers Augusto Farfus and Maxime Martin, USCC driver Lucas Luhr, as well as Dirk Adorf, Markus Palttala, Nick Catsburg, Jörg Müller and the new addition to the BMW driver squad, Richard Westbrook. The Walkenhorst Motorsport team will field two additional BMW Z4 GT3s, one of which sees BMW USCC driver John Edwards in the cockpit.

As well as the GT cars, around 40 other BMW vehicles will be on the starting grid on 16th May 2015. The BMW M235i Racings, in particular, which will compete in their own class. Then there is the BMW M235i Racing media car, in which the two renowned motorsport journalists Bernd Ostmann and Christian Gebhardt will contest the endurance classic. They will be supported by Harald Grohs and BMW Motorsport Junior Victor Bouveng.

As a result of the tragic accident at the first VLN race, for safety reasons there will be speed limits on some of the dangerous sections of track at this year's 24-hour race. Teams and drivers were given enough time to get used to these new conditions during the preparation race.