Schnitzer_Motorsport

Schnitzer Motorsport

Schnitzer Motorsport

German auto racing team

Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team mostly operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and had remarkable results in touring car and sports car racing. The team would often run the cars for BMW under the name of "BMW Motorsport". In 2012, the team operated the DTM team for BMW under the name of "BMW Team Schnitzer".

BMW Schnitzer CSL 1973

On 4 December 2020, BMW announced that it will terminate its relationship with Schnitzer Motorsport after more than 50 years.[1]

History

The team was founded in 1967 by the brothers Josef (August 7, 1939–August 31, 1978) and Herbert Schnitzer (b. June 5, 1941). Their stepfather Karl Lamm had a car repair shop and dealer business. The brothers started racing in 1962, and Josef Schnitzer won the 1966 German Championship in a BMW 2000ti. In 1968, both retired from active race driving to focus on the business and the race team.

In the 1970s, the Schnitzer's younger half-brothers Karl ("Charly") and Dieter Lamm joined the team, with Charly Lamm acting as team manager at the race tracks. In 1978, Josef Schnitzer died in an accident, and Herbert Schnitzer remained as the boss.

Apart from having the BMW dealership and Motorsport team based in Southern Germany's Bavaria, they also owned a BMW tuning specialist concern in the far north near the border of Belgium and the Netherlands, in Aachen. As this city has the license plate code AC, they called this branch AC Schnitzer.

In the 2000s, Schnitzer Motorsport competed in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) and World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) as a BMW squad, BMW Team Germany.

Since the 1960s, the Schnitzer team was mainly active with BMW and BMW M cars in Touring car racing, namely in the European Touring Car Championship, the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft and the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).

In 1977 and 1978 Schnitzer tried to take on the mighty Porsche 935 in the DRM. They developed a Group 5, 560 PS (412 kW) turbocharged silhouette version of the RA40 Toyota Celica and raced it with modest success. The best finish of the Celica LB Turbo was a fourth at Nürburgring in 1977, but with dismal reliability the next year Schnitzer withdrew and returned their focus to BMWs.[2]

Schnitzer's BMW V12 LMR.

Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini and Yannick Dalmas won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans for Team BMW Motorsport in a BMW V12 LMR, operated by Schnitzer Motorsport.[3]

In the 2000s, they mainly competed as "BMW Team Germany" in the WTCC with drivers Jörg Müller, Dirk Müller, and Augusto Farfus from 2005 to 2009.

Schnitzer's BMW M3 GT2 at the 2010 1000 km of Zhuhai.

Schnitzer was also active in Sports car racing and Endurance racing, e.g. the ALMS and Le Mans Series. On 26 January 2011 it was announced that Schnitzer Motorsport, under the name Team Schnitzer, would run Andy Priaulx's GT2 M3 in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup[4]

In 2012, BMW Team Schnitzer, along with BMW Team RBM, and Reinhold Motorsport GmbH, each line up with two BMW M3 DTM cars in the DTM.[5]

In September 2018, Charly Lamm announced that he would step down from his role at Schnitzer at the end of the year.[6] He died unexpectedly on 24 January 2019.[7]

In early 2021 the organisation began the process of being liquidated.[8]

Major wins

Championships
Races

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key)

More information Year, Entrant ...

† Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance.

References

  1. [1]
    Gary Watkins (4 December 2020). "BMW ends its relationship with Schnitzer team". Motorsport.com.
  2. [2]
    Chong, Rod (2009-02-19). "Bigger Than Life: The Schnitzer Celica". Speedhunters.com. Archived from the original on 2011-01-19. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
  3. [3]
    Davey Euwema (20 November 2020). "BMW parts ways with Le Mans-winning Schnitzer squad". Motosport Week.
  4. [4]
    "WTCC: Full ILMC season for Andy Priaulx". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  5. [5]
    BMW Motorsport presents the teams for its DTM project. BMW Motorsport. 10 March 2011.
  6. [6]
    Tamara Aller (19 September 2018). "Schnitzer legend Charly Lamm steps back from team manager role". Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  7. [7]
    "BMW Motorsport mourns the loss of Charly Lamm". 25 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  8. [8]
    Haidinger, Sven; Newbold, James (5 February 2021). "Top touring car and sportcar squad Schnitzer Motorsport set to be liquidated". Autosport. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  9. [9]
    "Spa 24 Hours 1990 - Photo Gallery - Racing Sports Cars".
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