https://www.touringcartimes.com/2020...re-inevitable/
Schnitzer Motorsport: “A company closure is inevitable”
4 days ago
By TouringCarTimes
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.