BMW Juniors Max Hesse, Dan Harper, and Neil Verhagen in the #44 BMW M6 GT3 finished second in the seventh round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series run on September 11. They finished the six-hour race less than twenty seconds behind the winning Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre. Jörg Müller, Mario von Bohlen, Dennis Fetzer, and Thomas Neubauer finished sixth in the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport M6 GT3.
The event also marked the competition debut of the M4 GT3. Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus drove the car, entered in the SP-X prototype class. The car started from the back of the GT3 pack, where the series requires SP-X cars to begin the race. Eng and Farfus moved up to tenth overall but ran out of fuel on the last lap. BMW Motorsport said that running the tank to empty was part of the plan for the day.
Mike Krack, head of BMW M Motorsport, said, “We had a successful day all round on the Nordschleife. Congratulations to our three BMW Juniors Max, Dan and Neil—they battled for their next NLS win right up to the final lap in their BMW M6 GT3 and can be very satisfied with second place. The three gave an error-free performance, delivering impressive proof that they are certainly one of the real top teams on the Nordschleife. Our new BMW M4 GT3 also enjoyed a successful race debut. The car ran like clockwork and we had no problems at all during yesterday’s testing or in qualifying and the race today. Augusto and Philipp were delighted with the performance of the BMW M4 GT3 and confirmed how great the BMW M4 GT3 drives on the Nordschleife. Overall, we are very pleased with this NLS Saturday.”—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]