“If there is anything we can do to allow a new car to participate in our races, we will do it.” That, or something along that line, is the philosophy at CREVENTIC, the promoter and organiser of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. As a result, numerous cars made their competition debut in races by the Dutch organisation over the years, both in the hands of factory teams and of privateer outfits. The latter includes the debut of the BMW F80 M3GT MR, developed and built by Dutch team JR Motorsport, during the recent Hankook 12H IMOLA. Admittedly, not everything went as planned, but the first signals are reason for optimism. And if it were easy, anyone could do it, right?
It was Martin Lanting, who has been closely involved with JR Motorsport as a driver for many years, who came up with the idea to build a GT competition car based on the BMW M3, internally referred to as F80 by the factory. Lanting wanted a new car, but wasn’t interested in just another off-the-shelf customer race car from a manufacturer. Lanting wanted something unique as a new ‘boost’, something nobody else would have. And thus, the idea was born to build a ‘special endurance’ car for the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. A BMW M3 was acquired and based on JR Motorsport’s many years of experience with competition cars from the Bavarian brand, the best components from the M6 GT3, the M4 GT4, the E90 WTCC and the M235i Racing Cup were integrated into the new car. The result is a unique machine for which “only the best is good enough”, as the constructors say. As an appreciation to initiator Martin Lanting, the abbreviation ‘MR’ for ‘Martino Rosso’, the name under which Lanting is running many of his racing activities, was added to the name of the BMW.
Next to its other activities in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook and the Supercar Challenge, JR Motorsport had been working on the construction of the new endurance race car since November 2016. The goal was for the car to make its competition debut in the twelve-hour race at Imola. One week before the race, a two-day test was held at an undisclosed circuit in France. The first day revealed some points that needed improvement, but the second day was so positive that the green light was given for participation at Imola. At the same time, JR Motorsport also released an initial announcement and images of the new car. “Prior to that, people heard rumours, but nobody really knew anything about it,” JR Motorsport’s Joost Ursem says. “It was only when we had made the decision to go to Imola that we posted a video from the test on Facebook and published a photo on our homepage.”
The debut wasn’t trouble-free: during the ‘private test’ at Imola on Thursday, an engine problem occurred on the new car. A challenging situation for the team, but giving up was never an option. The decision was made to run a different car. Joost Ursem tells: “I sent Fred (Cavannagh, his business partner, ed.) an SMS with the message, but at that time, he was already on the plane, ready to fly out to Italy. The doors of the plane were already closed! With a valid excuse, he was still allowed to get off the plane, drove back to our storage to pick up our trusted BMW E90 M3 and the necessary equipment, loaded the trailer and left for Imola at 8.30 pm.”
From the team’s headquarters in De Goorn, well north of Amsterdam, to Imola, it is almost 1,400 kilometres. In Italy, the organisation had been informed about JR Motorsport’s intention to run a different car. Permission was given to race provided the car would make it in time for scrutineering. The truck and trailer arrived in the paddock of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at 1 pm. In the 30 minutes that remained before the start of the race, the BMW passed scrutineering, the fuel tank was topped up and the car was driven to the grid, ready at the last minute to take the start of the Hankook 12H IMOLA- There, JR Motorsport took the class win in the SP3-GT4 class with experienced drivers Bob Herber/Martin Lanting alternating behind the wheel of the BMW with starting number 14, a nice reward for all the efforts.
“In all those years in motorsport, we have seen a lot. A last-minute trip to Germany for some parts is nothing special, but all the way to Italy was quite something.” Joost Ursem can laugh about it in hindsight. “But we simply never give up. ‘One team, one family’, it says on our team clothing, and that is the spirit that enabled us to have so much success. At Imola, our old M3 was still shown on the banner above our pit box. Perhaps, that was an omen, but from the next race onwards, there is no doubt that we will be running our new M3!”