You dreamed it. We built it. We race it: The BMW M3 Touring 24H passed its baptism of fire at the season opener of the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS) on the legendary Nordschleife. The car not only attracted attention from fans and media, but also impressed on the track. Jens Klingmann and Ugo de Wilde finished in a strong 13th place overall, winning the SPX class. Dan Harper and Jordan Pepper in the #99 BMW M4 GT3 EVO initially celebrated a second-place finish but were later promoted to overall winners after the Mercedes crew around Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen was disqualified.
In front of an impressive crowd of 25,000 spectators, four BMW M4 GT3 EVOs and the BMW M3 Touring 24H lined up on the grid. The second ROWE Racing car with Augusto Farfus, Raffaele Marciello, and Kelvin van der Linde started from third place but dropped back to 25th after a technical issue required a repair stop.
Schubert Motorsport celebrated its comeback on the Nordschleife. The #77 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Klingmann, de Wilde, and Charles Weerts, finished the race in twelfth place – directly ahead of the BMW M3 Touring 24H, which was surrounded and admired by fans both in the pit lane and on the starting grid. The #23 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of customer team Gamota Racing finished 16th overall, which also meant third place in the SP9-Pro-Am class.
The last three events at the Nürburgring have gone very well for us. After the snow last weekend, we were finally able to get enough laps in. We were able to do what we had planned: tyre work and giving the drivers the laps they needed. The most important thing was that everyone got to drive. It’s a good feeling for everyone here that we made it onto the podium. We’re all happy.
Overall, we are very satisfied with the premiere of the BMW M3 Touring 24H. We can match the pace, similar to the GT3 cars. The first developments with the Yokohama tyre are also very positive. Now we want to continue doing a clean job – from the qualifying race to the 24-hour race. For us at Schubert Motorsport, returning to the Nordschleife is of course something special.