Schnitzer Motorsport was 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 Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

and sports car racing scenes. The team often runs the cars for BMW under the name of "BMW Motorsport". In 2012, the team operated the

DTM DTM may refer to: Sport * Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000 * Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995 Computing * Deterministic T ...

team for BMW under the name of "BMW Team Schnitzer". On 4 December 2020, BMW announced that it will terminate its relationship with Schnitzer Motorsport after more than 50 years.

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 Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

. As this city has the license plate code ''AC'', they called this branch AC Schnitzer. 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 the 2000s, they mainly competed as "BMW Team Germany" in the WTCC with drivers Jörg Müller, Dirk Müller, and

Augusto Farfus Augusto Farfus Jr. (born 3 September 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He lives in Monaco. Early years Born in Curitiba, Farfus first tasted racing in minibike races and won the local championshi ...

from 2005 to 2009. In 1977 and 1978 Schnitzer tried to take on the mighty

Porsche 935 The Porsche 935 was a race car developed and manufactured by German automaker Porsche. Introduced in 1976 as the factory racing version of the Porsche 930, 911 (930) Turbo and prepared for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-Group 5 ( ...

in the DRM. They developed a Group 5, turbocharged silhouette version 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. BMW V12 LMR (34937903891)

Joachim Winkelhock,

Pierluigi Martini Pierluigi Martini (born 23 April 1961) is an Italian former racing driver. He won the 1999 24 hours of Le Mans and participated in 124 Formula One Grands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995. Early life Martini's uncle, Giancarlo Martin ...

and Yannick Dalmas won the

1999 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 67th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1999. The race had a large number of entries in the fastest Le Mans Prototype classes, with Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lola Cars, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Pan ...

for Team BMW Motorsport in a BMW V12 LMR, operated by Schnitzer Motorsport. BMW M3 GT2 ILMC Zhuhai 2010

Schnitzer was also active in Sports car racing and Endurance racing, e.g. the

ALMS Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...

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 The 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup was the second and final Season running of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, an international auto racing championship for manufacturers and teams. The Cup featured endura ...

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

. In September 2018, Charly Lamm announced that he will step down from his role at Schnitzer at the end of the year. He died unexpectedly on 24 January 2019. In early 2021 the organisation began the process of being

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

Major wins

; Championships * 1978 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (

Harald Ertl Harald Ertl (31 August 1948 – 7 April 1982) was an Austrian racing driver and motorsport journalist. He was born in Zell am See and attended the same school as Grand Prix drivers Jochen Rindt, Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda. Ertl sported an 'Impe ...

, BMW 320i Turbo) * 1983 European Touring Car Championship ( Dieter Quester,

BMW 635 CSi The BMW E24 is the first generation of BMW 6 Series range of grand tourer cars, which was produced from January 1976 to 1989 and replaced the BMW E9 coupé. The E24 was produced solely in a 2-door coupé body style. All models used petrol straigh ...

) *

1986 European Touring Car Championship The 1986 European Touring Car Championship, known in 1986 as the FIA Touring Car Championship, was the 24th season of the European Touring Car Championship. The championship was run to the FIA's international Group A touring car regulations. Eur ...

( Roberto Ravaglia,

) *

1987 World Touring Car Championship The 1987 World Touring Car Championship season was the inaugural World Touring Car Championship season. It commenced on 22 March 1987 and ended on 15 November after eleven races. The championship was open to Touring Cars complying with FIA Group A ...

( Roberto Ravaglia,

BMW M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

) * 1988 European Touring Car Championship ( Roberto Ravaglia,

) * 1989 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft ( Roberto Ravaglia,

) * 1989-1991

Italian Touring Car Championship The Italian Superturismo Championship (Campionato Italiano Superturismo) is Italy's national motorsport series for touring cars. It was established in 1987 and its drivers' title has been held by such notable drivers as Le Mans winner Emanuele Pir ...

(1989: Johnny Cecotto and 1990-1991: Roberto Ravaglia,

, BMW M3 Evolution) * 1991 Nissan Mobil 500 Series ( Emanuele Pirro, Joachim Winkelhock, BMW M3 Evolution) *

1993 British Touring Car Championship The 1993 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season was 36th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. Season summary At the end of 1992 BMW GB withdrew from the championship after the rules had been changed in a direction whi ...

(Champion: Joachim Winkelhock and Runner-up: Steve Soper, BMW 318i) *

1994 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship The 1994 FIA Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship was a motorsport championship for Super Touring racing cars. This was the second running of the championship and the champion was Joachim Winkelhock who drove for Schnitzer Motorsport. Schedule Th ...

( Joachim Winkelhock, 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 The 2001 American Le Mans Series season was the third season for the IMSA American Le Mans Series, and the 31st overall season of the IMSA GT Championship. It was a series for Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) race cars divided into ...

GT ( Jörg Müller,

GTR V8) *

2012 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The 2012 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twenty-sixth season of premier German touring car championship and also thirteenth season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. New regulations applied ...

(

Bruno Spengler Bruno Spengler (born August 23, 1983) is an Alsatian-born Canadian racing driver, currently racing for the BMW factory/works team. Nicknamed 'The Secret Canadian', he won the 2012 DTM Drivers' Championship. Career Early career Spengler was b ...

) ( BMW M3 DTM) ; Races * 1976

1000km Nürburgring 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

(Albrecht Krebs, Dieter Quester, BMW 3.5 CSL) * 1985-1986 Spa 24 Hours ( Roberto Ravaglia, Gerhard Berger,

Marc Surer Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951 in Arisdorf) is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September ...

, Dieter Quester,

Altfrid Heger Altfrid Heger is a German racing driver who competed in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. He won the 1988 Guia Race. Heger is the co-founder of Hegersport, a German company which organizes auto racing series such as the V8Star Series. ...

Thierry Tassin Thierry Tassin (born 11 January 1959) is a Belgian racing driver. He won the prestigious Spa 24 Hours endurance race on four occasions (1983, '86, '94 and '96) - all in a BMW Racing record Complete European Formula Two Championship results ( ...

) (

) * 1988 Spa 24 Hours ( Roberto Ravaglia,

, Dieter Quester) (

) * 1988-1991

Wellington 500 The Wellington 500 was a street race for touring cars which took place at Wellington City in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1987 event was a round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. The final running of the race w ...

( Roberto Ravaglia, Emanuele Pirro, Johnny Cecotto, Joachim Winkelhock,

, BMW M3 Evolution) * 1990 Spa 24 Hours ( Johnny Cecotto,

Fabien Giroix Fabien Giroix (born 17 September 1960) is a French racing driver from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Paris. Racing career Formula cars Giroix began his career in French Formula Renault in 1984, finishing 4th. In 1985 he drove in the French Formula Thr ...

Markus Oestreich Markus Oestreich (born 3 July 1963) is a German racing driver currently competing in the TCR International Series. He previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Championship and Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters ...

, BMW M3 Evolution) * 1991

24 Hours Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

( BMW M3 Evolution) * 1992

Guia Race The WTCR Race of Macau, previously Guia Race of Macau and WTCC Guia Race of Macau, is an international touring car race, and currently a round of the World Touring Car Cup. It is held on the temporary 6.2 km Guia Circuit on the streets of Mac ...

(1–2–3 finish, Winner: Emanuele Pirro, Runner-up: Joachim Winkelhock and Third: Roberto Ravaglia, BMW M3 Evolution) * 1992

Pukekohe 500 The Pukekohe 500 was an endurance motor racing event first held in 1963 at Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe, New Zealand, Pukekohe, New Zealand. History The Pukekohe 500 had its origins in the W.D. & H.O. Wills, Wills Six-Hour race that was first ...

( Emanuele Pirro, Joachim Winkelhock, BMW M3 Evolution) * 1994

(1–2 finish, Winner: Joachim Winkelhock, Runner-up: Steve Soper, BMW 318i) * 1998

( BMW 320d) *

( BMW V12 LMR) * 2004-2005

(1–2 finishes two years in a row,

GTR V8) * 2010

( Jörg Müller,

, Uwe Alzen,

Pedro Lamy José Pedro Mourão Lamy Viçoso, OIH, known as Pedro Lamy (; born 20 March 1972) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently racing in endurance races teaming up with Mathias Lauda and gentleman driver Paul Dalla Lana. He was the fir ...

BMW M3 GT2 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

) * 2018

FIA GT World Cup The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

(

, BMW M6 GT3)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) * Season still in progress. ^† Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance.

References

External links

*
The history of the Team Schnitzer
- b
AC Schnitzer official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnitzer Motorsport German auto racing teams BMW in motorsport World Touring Car Championship teams World Sportscar Championship teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams American Le Mans Series teams FIA GT Championship teams Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams British Touring Car Championship teams European Le Mans Series teams ADAC GT Masters teams Blancpain Endurance Series teams Auto racing teams established in 1967 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2021