The first two-and-a-half hours of the Nurburgring 24 Hours saw mixed fortunes for the pair of works entered BMW M3 E92.
The no.25 car was seventh, the third driver already installed in the car with Pedro Lamy having taken over the car from Uwe Alzen after a total of 16 laps. Alzen in turn had replaced starting driver Jorg Muller after eight tours of the Norschleife layout.
The sister no.26 had fared far less well.
The car, with a driving line-up that sees Briton Andy Priaulx alongside a trio of Dirks – Adorf, Muller and Werner – had already fallen back to 25th place after an early tyre change, before it suffered an accident with Werner at the wheel.
“At Schwedenkreuz I was behind a slower competitor and wanted to lap him on the right hand side,” he described. “However, the other car also moved right. I tried to avoid the collision, but ended up going off the track. I went over the grass, then across the track and collided heavily with the crash barriers at Aremberg.”
The BMW skated through the grass on the inside of the track, before sliding across the track and skipping over the gravel track before slamming into the barriers, the force of the impact briefly lifting the car airborne.
Happily the car was able to recover back to the pits, though the necessary repairs cost the team an hour.
