BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS earned a double top ten result after a tough DMV 4-Stunden Rennen, round 2 of the VLN. Maxime Martin and Jörg Müller took the number #25 BMW Z4 GT3 to a fifth place finish, with Markus Palttala and Dirk Adorf taking ninth place in #26. Under bright blue skies, the two Marc VDS machines started the race side-by-side. Martin in #25 began 16th and Palttala in #26 15th. Both were cautious in the opening exchanges but wily race craft saw both gain places to progress to the fringes of the top ten.
However, bad luck struck #26 as a slow puncture meant an early pitstop. This cost the car badly. When a red flag flew towards the end of the first hour, #26 was well down the order as just about the only car to have pitted.
The delay was considerable as barriers were repaired but eventually the race restarted and the frenetic action began again. In #25, Martin made steady progress and Müller found himself in a handy position when he took over the car. He was involved in a four way battle for third place towards the race’s end . A lack of straightline performance hindered his attempts to pass, and he ended the race in fifth position.
Adorf took the restart in #26, and had to negotiate a host of traffic to progress. He did just that, and steady consistent running meant that he ended the race inside the top ten – ninth position.
The next race for Marc VDS will be VLN3, on April 26th.
Sebastien Metz, Technical Director:
“Despite the disrupted race, we achieved another good weekend’s running. Both cars were mechanically sound and we made more good progress on the set-up, which was the main goal. It’s obviously frustrating to have these issues with punctures, but we’re working with Michelin to get to the bottom of it. I have total confidence in them to achieve that.”
Dirk Adorf, BMW Z4 GT3 #26
“The car was pretty quick on the Nordschleife, but we definitely need more top speed. To overtake, we have to take a big risk in the corners, and this is obviously not ideal. For me, the goal was to do a double stint without any problems in the car or myself, and I have to thank the team for managing that because the car was very smooth. I got out of the car feeling pretty good. It’s annoying because you can see that one puncture is too much – there’s no chance to come back from that.”
Jörg Müller, BMW Z4 GT3 #25
“The fight was fun, but also quite frustrating. It’s very difficult for us to pass anyone in a straightline, but it’s pretty easy for the others to pass us. The car was really nice, so I could always catch up in the corners. It was a lot of hard fighting, and I’m happy. We’re definitely moving in the right direction for the 24 Hours – every race we do, we learn something new, and we get better. That’s of course why we do the VLN!”