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selected passages from the official BMW press announcement--
SEBRING, Fla., March 1, 2000 -- After five years of sports-car racing success with
the BMW M3, BMW Team PTG will introduce a racing version of the all-new 2001
BMW M3 coupe at the Superflo 12 Hours at Sebring on March 18. The new M3 race
car is based on the production model that was unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show on
Feb. 29.
Tom Milner's Prototype Technology Group, BMW's development team, returns to the
American Le Mans Series in 2000 to campaign this new race car and will compete in
the GT class of the 12-race series, which includes eight U.S. races and events in
Australia, Canada, England and Germany.
The main difference in the new race car is improved aerodynamics. Sleeker than its
predecessor, it follows the lines of the new M3. In addition to the roll cage and other
safety equipment, the racing M3 has wider fenders, larger tires, bigger brakes and a
more powerful 3.2-liter in-line 6-cylinder engine than the production vehicle. The race
car skims the ground with just two inches of clearance, considerably less than the
street version.
"We all know how punishing the 12 Hours at Sebring can be on any car, its drivers
and the team," says Thomas Salkowsky, motorsport manager for BMW of North
America, Inc. "We are probably going to have to climb the largest mountain we've
faced so far..."
The new No. 6 BMW M3 will be driven by the trio of Hans Stuck of Austria, Boris
Said of Carlsbad, Calif., and Johannes van Overbeek of Danville, Calif. BMW Team
PTG will also field the No. 10 M3, driven by Stuck and Said in 1999. Its drivers will be
Brian Cunningham of Danville, Ky., Peter Cunningham of West Bend, Wis., and
Darren Law of Phoenix.
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