Schnitzer Motorsport

Logo of the Schnitzer Motorsport team

Schnitzer Motorsport is a German motorsport team from Freilassing in Bavaria . The tuning company AC Schnitzer , based in Aachen, takes its name from the Bavarian parent company.

Company career

In 1936 Josef Schnitzer founded a car workshop with an Opel agency and a driving school . In addition, he expanded the operation with a Leuna - gas station . In 1939 Schnitzer also took over a Ford agency for cars and trucks . Josef Schnitzer died in 1945. Karl Lamm took over the business and later trained Schnitzer's sons, Josef jr, as stepfather and teacher. and Herbert, car mechanics . In 1963 the brothers bought an accident-damaged Fiat , restored it and used it in races. While Josef Schnitzer concentrated on his racing career, his brother Herbert put his focus on sales. From 1964 Schnitzer became a distributor for BMW . In 1966 Josef Schnitzer ended his racing career as the reigning German circuit champion. In 1967 the “Team Schnitzer” racing department was created. In 1978 Josef Schnitzer had a fatal accident at the age of 37 in an accident on the way to Zolder . On January 1, 1987, Schnitzer GmbH signed a contract with the BMW dealer Kohl Automobile GmbH in Aachen. The aim of the contract was and is the worldwide marketing of tuning products under the AC Schnitzer trademark .

Athletic career

The motorsport department was established in the late 1960s. Since then, models from Bayerische Motorenwerke have been used almost exclusively . In 1965 Josef Schnitzer jr. Second in the German circuit championship on a BMW 1800 TI / SA , one year later he became German champion. Between 1968 and 1971, first Ernst Furtmayr and then Walter Brun won the European Hill Climb Championship four times with a BMW 2002 and BMW 2800 CS .

John Fitzpatrick in 1972 in the BMW 2800 CS

In 1975 Jacques Laffite won the Formula 2 European Championship in a Martini MK16 powered by BMW . In 1977 Schnitzer took part in the German racing championship with a Toyota Celica , one season later Harald Ertl won the championship in a BMW 320 Turbo with a turbo engine developed by Schnitzer himself . Between 1980 and 1998, the team won the touring car race at the Guia Circuit in Macau nine times . In 1983, 1986 and 1988 Schnitzer was European Touring Car Champion .

BMW Schnitzer CSL 1973

M10 engine with Schnitzer 16V cylinder head in a BMW 2002

In 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1995 the team won the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps and in 1989, 1991, 2004, 2005 and 2010 at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring . 1987 was Roberto Ravaglia first World Touring Car champion in a BMW M3 . Schnitzer also won the national touring car championships in Germany ( 1989 ), Italy (1989, 1990), the United Kingdom (1993) and Japan (1995). With Joachim Winkelhock in 1995 and Johnny Cecotto in 1998, Schnitzer became German super touring car champion . 1999 won Schnitzer with a BMW V12 LMR , the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring . In the 2001 season, Schnitzer took first place in the GT class with a BMW M3 GTR in the American Le Mans Series .

BMW M3 (DTM champion car 1989)

Augusto Farfus (WTCC in Brazil 2007)

From 2005 to 2009 , Schnitzer initially took part in the World Touring Car Championship as a BMW works team, with a BMW 320si and Jörg Müller and Augusto Farfus as drivers. In 2006, Müller became vice world champion.

From 2012 Schnitzer will again be represented in the DTM as a BMW works team . Bruno Spengler and Dirk Werner were used as drivers . In 2012, Schnitzer won the title in both the driver and team standings in the first year after returning to the DTM. The brand classification for BMW made the triumph complete. The victorious driver was Bruno Spengler, who, 37 points behind the half of the season, overtook Mercedes driver Gary Paffett in the last race at the Hockenheimring . In 2013 the Schnitzer team took 4th place, Bruno Spengler came in 3rd place as the best driver. In 2014, Martin Tomczyk joined the team as a driver, while Dirk Werner dedicated himself to BMW sports cars. The season ended with 6th place in the team ranking.

After four years as a works team, Schnitzer left the DTM after the 2016 season to be active in GT racing with BMW in 2017.

On November 18, 2018 Augusto Farfus won the SJM Macau Grand Prix FIA GT World Cup at the Guia Circuit in a BMW M6 GT3 from Schnitzer Motorsport . It was Charly Lamm's last race as team boss, who passed away on January 24, 2019.

Driver in the DTM

1989	BMW M3 Evo	Roberto Ravaglia	Fabien Giroix	Johnny Cecotto	Emanuele Pirro
1990	BMW M3 Evo	Fabien Giroix	Johnny Cecotto	Roberto Ravaglia	Christian Danner	Eric van de Poele
1991	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	Johnny Cecotto	Joachim Winkelhock	Kris Nissen
1992	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	Joachim Winkelhock	Roberto Ravaglia	Altfrid Heger
2012	BMW M3 DTM 2012	Bruno Spengler	Dirk Werner
2013	BMW M3 DTM 2012	Bruno Spengler	Dirk Werner
2014	BMW M4 DTM 2014	Bruno Spengler	Martin Tomczyk
2015	BMW M4 DTM 2015	António Félix da Costa	Martin Tomczyk
2016	BMW M4 DTM 2016	António Félix da Costa	Martin Tomczyk

Results

Victories in the sports car world championship

year	run	vehicle	Driver 1	Driver 2
1976	1000 km race on the Nürburgring	BMW 3.5CSL	Germany Albrecht Krebs	Austria Dieter Quester
1976	1000 km race from Zeltweg	BMW 3.5CSL	Sweden Gunnar Nilsson	Austria Dieter Quester