BMW Takes 1-2 in Nurburgring 24H

The Briton joined Pedro Lamy, Duncan Huisman and Boris Said in taking a five-lap win over their sister car of Jorg Muller, Dirk Muller and Hans-Joachim Stuck, which had lost time early in the race with mechanical problems.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen was delighted at the Nurburgring success, having followed the race over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend on a GPS system.

"A huge complement to the whole team," said Theissen, "To repeat last year's one two under these extreme weather conditions is a fantastic achievement.

"With this the M3 GTR has earned an honorary place in the BMW Museum. Here in Barcelona for the Formula 1 Grand Prix we were kept in constant touch with what was happening and were following the action with great anticipation."

The winning BMW had moved into the lead at 6am after the leading works Porsche retired with mechanical problems at Bergwerk.

Third place went to the Zakspeed Dodge Viper of Peter Zakowski, Robert Lechner and Bert Sascha.

Top 25 Finishers of the 2005 Nurburgring 24 Hours

 1.  E1  Lamy/Said/Duncan/Priaulx             BMW M3 GTR          139  Laps
 2.  E1  D.MÃ¼ller/J.MÃ¼ller/Stuck /Lamy        BMW M3 GTR          -  5 laps
 3.  A8  Zakowski/Lechner/Bert                Dodge Viper GTS-R   -  7 laps
 4.  A7  Beil/Fischer/Hulverscheid/Althoff    Porsche 911 GT3     -  9 laps
 5.  A7  Bermes/Koll/Schornstein/Bovensiepen  Porsche GT3 Cup     -  9 laps
 6.  A7  Ickx/Duve/Hemroulle/Lambrecht        Porsche GT3 Cup     - 10 laps
 7.  A7  Schmidt/Ney/BÃ¤r/Irmgartz             Porsche 911 GT3 RS  - 11 laps
 8.  A7  M.Morin/H.Morin/A.Morin/Levin        Porsche 996 GT3 Cup - 11 laps
 9.  A7  Luhr/Bernhard/Collard/Tiemann        Porsche 911 GT3-MR  - 12 laps
10.  A8  J.Alzen/U.Alzen/Ludwig/Dumbreck      Porsche 996 Turbo   - 13 laps
11.  A3  Motopark/Bohnhorst/Hennerici/HÃ¼rtgen BMW 320 i           - 13 laps
12.  A6  Schlesack/Niedzwiedz/Kather          Honda NSX Type R    - 14 laps
13.  S1  SchÃ¼rg/Neuberger/Bartels/Scheider    Alfa Romeo 147 ITD  - 15 laps
14.  A6  Shimizu/Yoshida/Sarrazin/Sato        Subaru Impreza WRX  - 15 laps
15.  A3  HÃ¼rtgen/BjÃ¶rk/GÃ¶ransson/Schubert     BMW 320 i           - 16 laps
16.  A3  Luostarinen/Rauno/Bastuck/Haugg      Opel Astra Coupe    - 16 laps
17.  A7  Lemm/Bach/Luhr                       Porsche 964 Cup     - 17 laps
18.  A3  Riemer/Chmiela/MÃ¼hlenbruch/Riemer    Renault Clio RS     - 17 laps
19.  N2  Bermes/ThÃ¶nnes/Engels/               Honda Civic Type-R  - 18 laps
20.  S1  Haider/Kutsch/Hiltscher/Kraus        BMW 330 d Fuchs GT1 - 19 laps
21.  V5  RÃ¶sler/Kitzerow/Silvester/Springel   BMW M 3 GT          - 19 laps
22.  A3  Venn/Allan/Cate/Hoppe                Honda Civic Type-R  - 19 laps
23.  N2  Nett/SchÃ¼tz/Reuter                   Peugeot 206 RC      - 20 laps
24.  N2  Uetrecht/Fricke/David/Lohmann/       Honda Civic Type-R  - 20 laps
25.  V5  Khalifa/Gusenbauer/Herwerth/Nittel   BMW M 3             - 21 laps