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England’s Silverstone Formula1 course was the venue this past weekend for the first two races of the FIA GT3 European Championship. At 40 competitors – twice the field of Formula1 – the GT3 Race Series is the world’s most representative and most competitive production-based sportscar championship. This season, eleven different well-known manufacturers will compete to win in two one-hour endurance races per race weekend, each race including a mandatory driver change.


The ALPINA driver duo is made up of the young Hungarian Csaba Walter, as well as German Claudia Hürtgen, who’s recorded many successes in BMW-based racing cars. Both drivers fought their way up through the field, place by place, especially in the second half of the race.

The still-young ALPINA team from Buchloe captured 8th place in the first race on Saturday, exceeding that on Sunday with their 7th place finish. Straightaway, ALPINA managed to leave such well-known sportscars as Lamborghini and Ferrari in their wake. The ALPINA customer race team, “Sport Garage” of France, garnered an 11th place, making the international racing debut of the newly-developed GT3 race car a rousing success.



ALPINA team boss Andreas Bovensiepen was very happy with the result. This only confirming the assumption that the BMW 6 Series, with its long wheelbase and superior aerodynamics, would form the perfect foundation for a GT racer. “The BMW ALPINA B6 GT3’s even weight bias between front and rear axles leads to reduced tyre wear, when compared to the mid-engined sportscars, and helped guarantee the good placings,” said Bovensiepen.

The next GT3 European Championship races take place on the 15th & 16th of May on the Circuito de Adria in Italy. A week later it’s the climax of the sporting calendar for the Buchloe race team: the Nürburgring 24 hours on the famous Nordschleife, the 21st-24th May. This will be ALPINA’s chance to prove not only the BMW 6 Series-based BMW ALPINA B6 GT3’s speed, but also its reliability..


Source: Alpina