Success for Dörr Motorsport / ALPINA in the „Green Hell“

A section dedicated to following ALPINA's racing exploits
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neil
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Success for Dörr Motorsport / ALPINA in the „Green Hell“

Post by neil » Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:47 pm

ALPINA rose to the challenge of the Nordschleife over the weekend just gone. Alexandros Margaritis (GR) and Dominik Schwager (D) shared the driving of the BMW ALPINA B6 GT3 in the ninth round of the 2011 VLN Endurance Racing Championship
Nürburgring. The two professional racing drivers proved that ALPINA is a force to be
reckoned with also in the „Green Hell“.

ALPINA took on the Nürburgring in conjunction with Dörr Motorsport. Although
Margaritis and Schwager initially approached the track in the Eifel with care, the two
drivers increasingly gained momentum over the course of the race. Dominik Schwager
started from the 17th position and continually battled his way through the field. Given
the glorious autumn weather, it did not take long for Schwager to make his way to
position 7.

After about an hour, the race was red-flagged following several unrelated accidents.
When the VLN race restarted, it was Margaritis‘ turn behind the wheel. The newly-
crowned ADAC GT Masters champion built on his teammate‘s solid performance and
briskly worked his way forward. For the final laps he handed over to Schwager once
more who steered the BMW ALPINA B6 GT3 to a fantastic fifth place by the end.

„Today was the first time I‘ve driven the car so it went really well considering,“ was
Schwager‘s conclusion. Margaritis was also happy with the result. „We came through
the field effectively, which isn‘t always easy when there are 180 vehicles. Fifth place
is a promising result that we can build on.“ Andreas Bovensiepen, ALPINA managing
director and head of motorsport, was also upbeat: „We normally take part in sprint
races so the Endurance Racing Championship with a race duration of four hours,
several pit stops and change of tyres is something different and therefore our top
priority was to get across the finish line. It was therefore great to achieve such a
positive result.“

As well as coming fifth in the end-result of the VLN Endurance Racing Championship
behind teams like Manthey, Mamerow and Audi, who are participating in this cham-
pionship the whole season, ALPINA garnered valuable experience from the VLN race.
Andreas Bovensiepen explains: „We are still searching for the optimum set-up for
the B6 GT3 on the Nordschleife. In the last race we startet with 1.300 kg of weight
and a tank volume of 110 litres, but we also have the possibility to start with 1.350 kg
of weight and a tank volume of 120 litres. We will analyse the data and then we will
decide which configuration is best for the next race. The Nordschleife, also called the
“Green Hell” is a unique test of endurance and in future we want to demonstrate that
the BMW ALPINA B6 GT3 is able to finish on the podium here as well.“

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neil
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Post by neil » Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:14 pm

Some photos: of the B6 here:

http://www.vln.de/fotoalbum.gb.php?renn ... 5&count=16

3rd and 4th photo.

http://www.vln.de/fotoalbum.gb.php?renn ... 5&count=32

4th and 8th photo



And here's the official photos:

Image

Image

Image

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