The season got off to a good start for BMW when John Edwards (USA), Nick Catsburg (NED) and Marco Wittmann (GER) took their BMW M6 GT3 to victory at the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring opening race this weekend.
The three drivers won the 65th ADAC Westfalenfahrt in the ROWE Racing #99 BMW M6 GT3. Tom Blomqvist (GBR), Connor De Phillippi (USA) and Mikkel Jensen (DEN) took third in the sister #98 BMW. Blomqvist managed to secure pole position in a fog bound qualifying, meaning that the race itself was reduced to two hours and 45 minutes, which led to a thrilling race with close racing and many position changes at the front of the pack, with Edwards pulling off the winning manoeuvre on the 20th and final lap to secure victory.
BMW works driver Jens Klingmann (GER) was also racing this weekend behind the wheel of the Team Falken Motorsports #3 BMW M6 GT3 with Alexandre Imperatori (CHN), finishing in eighth place. The #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport car of Rudi Adams, Immanuel Vinke (both GER) and Jody Fannin (GBR) finished twelfth overall.
In total, over 50 BMWs were represented in the first race of the 2019 season. As well as six BMW M6 GT3s, there were five BMW M4 GT4s racing in the SP10 class, achieving two podium finishes. In the #181 Team Sorg Rennsport BMW M4 GT4, BMW Motorsport Junior Erik Johansson (SWE) and Heiko Eichenberg (GER) finished in second place, whilst the BMW M4 GT4 driven by Stefan Beyer, Emin Akata (both GER) and Torsten Kratz (AUT) took third place. In the V4 class, Kratz, Oliver Frisse (GER) and Moran Gott (GBR) managed to secure victory in the Sorg Rennsport #706 BMW 325i.
The next round in the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring will take place on Saturday 13th April 2019. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit: www.nuerburgring.de
Author Bio:
Simon Burrell is Editor-in-Chief of Our Man Behind The Wheel and Our Man On The Ground Travel and Lifestyle Magazine.
Photographs courtesy of BMW
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