BMW Drivers Had a Really, Really Bad Day at the Nürburgring

M235i Cup cars turn endurance race into a demolition derby.

byMax Prince|
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On Saturday, the Nürburgring hosted the ADAC Barbarossapreis race, the eighth event on the VLN Endurance Championship calendar. The Germs dominated on home turf, handily sweeping the Nordschleife podium. The No. 8 HARBIO Mercedes-AMG GT3 took the overall race win, followed by a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R, the No. 911 Manthey Racing and No. 4 Falken Motorsport cars, respectively. The BMWs, on the other hand, did not have a good day.

The CUP5 class, a single-make series for the BMW M235i, counted 20 cars at the start. Just 14 finished. That’s an attrition rate nearing one-in-three, and there was plenty of carnage. At least three M235i Cup cars were involved in substantial wrecks during VLN8. The No. 668 BMW got off easiest with (apparent) suspension failure-induced understeer into a barrier; No. 151 came into a right-hand sweeper too hot and promptly received a face full of Armco. The worst by far was No. 697, which traded blows with a faster prototype car, lost, and suffered a gnarly rollover as a result.

Luckily, no driver injuries have been reported. But, of course, this is the Nürburgring, so all three crashes were captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. Watch them below.

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