BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS took a second place finish at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Maxime Martin, Yelmer Buurman, Andrea Piccini and Richard Göransson, driving the #25 BMW Z4 GT3, finished just two minutes behind the winning car after an extraordinary 24 hour race. The #26 of Markus Palttala, Henri Moser, Bas Leinders and Richard Göransson retired from a podium position after an accident. The two cars lined up in the top ten on the grid and immediately looked strong. The start of the race was dry and both cars made strong progress in the opening hours. When the rain came, good strategy calls put both cars in the top six, and they ran consistently and strongly in worsening conditions. The #26 car moved into the top three and was followed by the #25, which then took the lead after some fast lapping by Maxime Martin. However, at a quarter to eleven the race was red flagged. With conditions getting worse and worse the organisers deemed the track too dangerous and all the cars were brought to the pitlane. The race would not restart for more than nine hours. This put paid to Martin's good work, as the standings were counted back one lap. Car #26 restarted third and #25 fifth at eight in the morning, but by the time the cars reached the Nordschleife Maxime Martin had put #25 into the lead. He would cross the line nearly 20 seconds ahead of the competition after just one lap. Both Marc VDS cars were in the top three for a considerable time, before an incident befell #26. While running in third place, Bas Leinders was pushing hard to chase down the second placed car when another car spun in front of him at Bergwerk. With nowhere to go, the car hit the barrier and was too badly damaged to continue. A change in the weather, with the track drying, played into the hands of Mercedes and some time was lost for the #25 car. When Martin left the box for the final stint the car was fourth and 24 seconds behind second place. However, in one extraordinary lap he caught the two Mercedes in second and third and passed both coming onto the Nordschleife. With the gap to the leader too large to close, Martin eased off and crossed the line two minutes and 39 seconds behind the winning car to secure a remarkable podium. "We looked good in the first part of the race, because we were leading on track when they red flagged the race – said an happy Andrea Piccini – We did not expect this gap to the Mercedes, that was a surprise. Maxime did a wonderful job and we made it to the podium. We all drove in tricky conditions; it was wet, dry, wet, dry and then you were on slicks when it was wet and rain tyres when it was dry. It's been a crazy race."
