Triple M Power for the BMW Junior Team: BMW Motorsport youngsters receive BMW M cars.

Munich. The legendary BMW Junior Team is revived for 2020. In 1977, the Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW Motorsport GmbH at that time, Jochen Neerpasch, came up with the idea of providing professional development for the three talented racers Eddie Cheever, Marc Surer and Manfred Winkelhock, paving the way for them to make it to the elite classes of racing. More than 40 years later, the new generation of Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen is following in their footsteps. As the new BMW Junior Team, they are racing at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

To give them the benefit of M Power in everyday life and not only on the racetrack, Markus Flasch, CEO of BMW M GmbH, presented the trio with three brand new BMW M cars. Harper, Hesse and Verhagen now have the keys to a BMW M2 Competition, a BMW M3 Limousine and a BMW M4 Coupé.

“We’re delighted that the three lads are representing BMW M so well with their speed and their positive attitude as the BMW Junior Team,” said Flasch during the handover at BMW M GmbH in Garching. “Now it’s not only on the racetrack that they will be driving the most powerful letter in the world, they’ll be driving it on the road as well. As the BMW Junior Team is already wearing the three M colours on their race suits, it was clear to us that they also needed to have M cars as their company cars. I think they are a perfect fit and hope Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen have a lot of fun with the cars.”

Neerpasch, who, as Managing Director BMW Motorsport GmbH in 1977, was responsible for taking the promotion of talented youngsters to a professional level for the first time, and founded the original BMW Junior Team, is overseeing the latest generation as a mentor. He also attended the presentation of the cars and said: “Back then, we were the first manufacturer to focus on the system of man and machine. We ensured that the racing drivers were physically and medically up to the job in a race car. The first BMW Junior Team proved at a very high level that you learn much quicker together than every man for himself. We are now trying the same thing, 40 years later – and the impressive first races on the Nordschleife have raised hopes that we can achieve similar success with Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen.” On his experience with BMW M cars, Neerpasch said: “For me, M cars are the best BMWs. You can drive them flat-out on the Nordschleife and then travel home in comfort on public roads. How many cars can do that? I love these cars.” 

Harper said at the presentation: “I was really keen to be able to drive an M car from day one,” said Harper. “It’s fantastic that the time has now come.” Verhagen said “The M cars are really great. To be able to drive one on the road now as well as on the Nordschleife is so cool.” Hesse added “What’s really good is that we can practice on the Nordschleife with the M cars as well. We’re still new to the track, so every lap that we can do there outside race weekends is really valuable.”

Something else that links BMW M GmbH and the BMW Junior Team is that the trio are using the M test centre at the Nürburgring as a base for their training. The foyer of the test centre was transformed to enable the Juniors to complete their mental training there and race in their high-tech race simulators. “When colleagues from BMW Motorsport came to us with the idea of accommodating the BMW Junior Team in our test centre, we said yes right away,” said Dirk Häcker, Head of Development of M Cars and BMW Individual, who is also responsible for the M test centre. “Transforming the foyer into the colours of the BMW Junior Team and the BMW M car right behind the glass front makes the M test centre even more of an eye-catcher in Nürburg than it already was. I have no doubt that many fans and passers-by will be looking through our windows with curiosity.”

Häcker met the BMW Junior Team at a race weekend in the Nürburgring Endurance Series, where he got to know the junior drivers. That same weekend, Harper and Verhagen celebrated their first win in the BMW M240i Racing at the Nordschleife.

BMW M GmbH.

BMW M GmbH is a 100 per cent subsidiary of BMW AG. With its products and services in the business areas of BMW M Automobiles, BMW Individual, M Sports Options and Packages, BMW Driving Experience as well as Rescue and Operational Vehicles, it is geared towards customers with particularly high aspirations in terms of the performance, exclusivity and individual style of their vehicle. BMW M GmbH is also responsible for the BMW customer racing programme, BMW M Customer Racing. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1972 as BMW Motorsport GmbH. Since then, the letter M has become synonymous all over the world for racing success and for the fascination of high-performance sports cars for road use.