The 2016 endurance racing season has begun at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, where the BMW M6 GT3 successfully completed its first race kilometres in the Green Hell. The ROWE Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams used the season opener in the VLN Endurance Championship as a test under race conditions, to gain important experience with the new car ahead of the 24-hour race in May.
ROWE Racing was there with the number 22 BMW M6 GT3 driven by Klaus Graf, Markus Palttala, and Richard Westbrook. The second ROWE Racing car was driven by Philipp Eng, Maxime Martin, and Dirk Werner.
Both cars started well and made up a few places in the early laps, before the team decided to concentrate on fine-tuning the vehicle’s performance for the remainder of the race, finishing outside the top-10. The number 23 car suffered technical difficulties after running repairs had to be made, and was unable to make up lost ground.
Other teams that were also participating using the M6 GT3 were Schubert Motorsport with a pair of race entry. Similarly, they were concentrating on testing, to find any of the car’s weak points and fixing small problems as they arose. One car finished out of the top 10 while the other retired following an accident on the very last lap.
The best-placed BMW M6 GT3 in the four-hour race was the Walkenhorst Motorsport number 35 car.
Some of the comments after the race includes:
Maxime Martin (ROWE Racing): ”The first impressions of the new car on the North Loop were really good. However, we also know that we have a lot of work still to do. The car provides a good starting point, but we now have to develop it further.“
Lucas Luhr (Schubert Motorsport): ”I had problems with the power steering and had to make an extra pit stop, which cost us a lot of time. However, overall I am very pleased with the BMW M6 GT3. Teething problems can occur with any new car, and it is more important that I feel fine behind the wheel. The BMW M6 GT3 drives particularly well through the fast corners and has a lot of potential.“
