Schnitzer Motorsport is a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team has operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and has remarkable results in touring car and sports car racing scenes. The team often runs the cars for BMW under the name of "BMW Motorsport".
Currently as of 2012, the team has operated the DTM team for BMW under the name of "BMW Team Schnitzer".

BMW Schnitzer CSL 1973

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 own 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 competes 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 has been mainly active with BMW and BMW M cars in Touring car racing like the European Touring Car Championship, the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft and the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). In recent years, they mainly competed as "BMW Team Germany" in the WTCC with drivers Jörg Müller, Dirk Müller, and Augusto Farfus from 2005 to 2009.
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 silhouetteversion 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.

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.
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.

Major wins

Championships

• 1978 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (Harald Ertl, BMW 320i Turbo)
• 1983 European Touring Car Championship (Dieter Quester, BMW 635 CSi)
• 1986 FIATCC (Roberto Ravaglia, BMW 635 CSi)
• 1987 World Touring Car Championship (Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3)
• 1988 European Touring Car Championship (Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3)
• 1989 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3)
• 1989-1991 Italian Touring Car Championship (1989: Johnny Cecotto and 1990-1991: Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3)
• 1993 British Touring Car Championship (Champion: Joachim Winkelhock and Runner-up: Steve Soper, BMW 318i)
• 1995 Japanese Touring Car Championship (Steve Soper, BMW 318is) and 1995 Super Tourenwagen Cup (Joachim Winkelhock)
• 1998 Super Tourenwagen Cup (Johnny Cecotto), BMW 320i
• 2001 American Le Mans Series GT (Jörg Müller, BMW M3 GTR V8)
• 2012 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (Bruno Spengler) (BMW M3 DTM)

Races

• 1976 1000km Nürburgring (BMW 3.5 CSL)
• 1988-1991 Wellington 500 (Roberto Ravaglia, Emanuele Pirro, Johnny Cecotto, Joachim Winkelhock, BMW M3)
• 1991 24 Hours Nürburgring (BMW M3)
• 1992 Guia Race (1–2–3 finish, Winner: Emanuele Pirro, Runner-up: Joachim Winkelhock and Third: Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3 Evolution)
• 1998 24 Hours Nürburgring (BMW 320d)
• 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans (BMW V12 LMR)
• 2004-2005 24 Hours Nürburgring (1–2 finishes two years in a row, BMW M3 GTR V8)
• 2010 24 Hours Nürburgring (BMW M3 GT2)

Back to BMW
Last updated on 27 February 2013 at 23:33.

Read More »