Photo: PSP Images

Schnitzer Motorsport: “A company closure is inevitable”

By

Legendary BMW team Schnitzer Motorsport is likely to close its doors at the end of 2020 following last week’s announcement from the Bavarian manufacturer to end its cooperation with the team.

It has been two tough years for Schnitzer Motorsport, with team boss Charly Lamm passing away in January 2019.

“The payment of the company shares in 2020 to the widow v. Charly Lamm was an enormous financial burden for the company,” said team manager Herbert Schnitzer Jr to LSR-Freun.de.

“The unfavorable relationship between the expected income from 2021 – compared to the running costs – is not economically justifiable.

“For these reasons, a company closure is inevitable. After more than 50 years of motorsport with BMW vehicles, this situation is very difficult for all of us to deal with.”

The team has looked over options to find a cooperation with a new manufacturer.

“We had a lot of discussions to find an alternative partner in the form of a sponsor or investor,” said Schnitzer Jr.

“However, the market does not offer much in these Covid times. With paying drivers and with the company’s own funds, races cannot be implemented at a cost-effective rate due to our professional team structure and our high-quality location.”

Schnitzer Motorsport has had a successful cooperation with BMW for more than 50 years, racking up a vast number of touring car and GT titles along the way.

The team claimed the European Touring Car Cup titles in 1983, 1986 and 1988, the World Touring Car Championship title in 1987, the British Touring Car Championship title in 1993 and the DTM titles in 1989 and 2012.

Its most recent major success is the 2018 FIA GT World Cup win in Macau with Augusto Farfus Jr.

“We are proud of the fact that we in Team Schnitzer have shaped international motorsport together with BMW for so many years and look back with pleasure on all the great successes that we celebrated together in the various categories. We thank BMW Motorsport for this long, unique partnership,” said Schnitzer Jr.