After eight seasons of touring cars, BMW works driver Jörg Müller is returning to GT racing in 2010. The 40-year-old has taken a shine to the endurance circuit, and has always been fascinated by the challenges faced in these marathon races. “I never actually stopped loving endurance racing,” says Müller. “Even in recent years, BMW has kept sending me to individual GT races. For that reason, I don’t particularly need to change anything.”

Müller has already proven more than once in his career that he has everything you need to be a successful endurance driver. In the BMW V12 LMR, with which BMW won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1999, he celebrated two victories in the American Le Mans series the following year. In 2001 he won the GT title in this endurance championship with the BMW M3 GTR. He won in the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps with BMW at the first attempt in 1996. In 2004 he returned to the Ardennes with Team BMW Motorsport – and won the GT2 class.

His greatest successes to date in endurance classics, were, though, his victories on the Nordschleife: In 2004 he emerged victorious alongside Dirk Müller and Hans-Joachim Stuck; the following year he confirmed his reputation as a Nordschleife specialist by finishing second overall. In 2010, partnered by Augusto Farfus, Uwe Alzen and Pedro Lamy, Müller scored his second victory in the Eifel.

This season Müller lines up alongside Dirk Werner at the wheel of the BMW M3 GT2 in the Le Mans Series. He also is one of the leading BMW drivers for the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and in Le Mans.

The 2010 season sees Dirk Werner fulfil many of his ambitions. Having proven his mettle with strong past performances, this year the German lines up as a works driver for the first time. “It’s a great honour and also a major challenge to drive for a manufacturer such as BMW,” says Werner. “For a long time this has been my goal. Now I will go all out to prove myself in order to thank everybody for the confidence they have shown in me.”

The 28-year-old certainly has what it takes. Via various single-seater categories – including the BMW ADAC Formula Junior Cup – his career led him to touring cars, where he soon made it to the top. In 2007 he wrote history in the Grand-Am Series by becoming the first non-American to capture the GT title. Last season he repeated the feat with a Porsche.

Werner’s experience in 24-hour events was not amassed solely in the Daytona or Nürburgring classics, where he came third overall in 2009. In 2006 and 2007 Werner made up part of the Silverstone 24 Hours winning team, driving a BMW Z4 M Coupé for Duller Motorsport. In 2007, he also made it to the top of the 24-hour race podium in Dubai (AE). Werner is particularly looking forward to the Le Mans 24 Hours. “I can hardly wait to realise one of my dreams of starting at Le Mans,” he says. “Le Mans is to me the biggest and most exciting race in the world – it will be absolute magic.”

Exceptional talent, strategic prowess and nerves of steel: Andy Priaulx has all of these attributes. Combined with team spirit and a high basic speed, these characteristics make the driver from the Channel Island of Guernsey virtually the perfect racer. Winning the 2004 European Touring Car Championship triggered his unique run of success, which saw him claim three consecutive titles in the World Championship between 2005 and 2007. This makes him the most successful driver in the history of WTCC.

However, Priaulx can also look back on a wealth of experience and great success on the endurance circuit. In 2002 he lined up at marathon races in Australia, including the legendary “Bathurst 1000”. However, his greatest triumph came three years later at the Nürburgring's Nordschleife: Together with Pedro Lamy, Boris Said and Duncan Huisman, he won the 24-hour race in the Eifel Mountains at the wheel of a BMW M3 GTR.

As well as the return to the “Green Hell”, Priaulx is also looking forward to the 24-hour classic in Le Mans. He says: “That race is one of the biggest in the world. After Formula One, it is the ultimate goal of any driver to race there.” In the 2010 World Touring Car Championship he lines up alongside Augusto Farfus in the newly formed BMW Team RBM, and has his sights set on a fourth World Championship title.

When Augusto Farfus moved to BMW Team Germany ahead of the 2007 season of the World Touring Car Championship, two worlds collided: On the one hand the Brazilian “man about town” from Curitiba, who had previously been one of the BMW team’s main rivals during his time with Alfa Romeo. On the other hand Schnitzer Motorsport from Freilassing, in Bavaria, which had been winning titles for BMW all over the world for decades. However, it very quickly became clear that this was a match made in heaven. Augusto quickly became “Gustl” – and by the end of 2009 he had crossed the finishing line as winner 11 times in his BMW 320si WTCC.

While Farfus is racing for BMW Team RBM in the 2010 World Championship, and is aiming to challenge for the title again, the cooperation between Schnitzer Motorsport and the South American moves on to the endurance circuit. “It feels great to represent BMW not only in the World Touring Car Championship, but also in GT races,” says the 26-year-old.

An event from Farfus’s childhood proves just how excited he is about the endurance races. “As a little boy I wrote down what I wanted to achieve in my life,” he recalls. “Even back then, one of these goals was to race in Le Mans.”

On 15th and 16th May 2010 Farfus converted these words to action: Together with Jörg Müller, Uwe Alzen and Pedro Lamy he scored victory in the 24 Hour Race at the Nürburgring with a BMW M3 GT2. Despite his relative youth he proved to be an important pillar of the team, and entered the record books as winner of this classic event at his first attempt with a works car.

In GT racing, Dirk Müller is regarded as one of the best in the world. After numerous successes in this discipline, he did not have to wait long for his first international title: Müller won the GT class in the 2000 American Le Mans Series, and became a BMW works driver the following year. He claimed one victory with the BMW M3 GTR in the ALMS before switching to touring car racing in 2002.

“Having actually been trained as a GT driver, I was able to learn a lot during my five years in touring car racing,” says Müller, who made 96 starts in the ETCC and WTCC. “My experience from back then will stand me in good stead, as GT racing has changed. Especially in the ALMS, it is no longer about tactics, but being able to compete in duels on the track. My touring car time with BMW will help me a lot there.” In his five seasons with Schnitzer Motorsport, Müller took 12 victories and narrowly missed out on the European Championship title in 2004 and the World Championship title one year later. He also remained successful on the endurance circuit and, alongside Jörg Müller and Hans-Joachim Stuck, was part of the team that won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in 2004.

In 2007 Müller returned to the endurance circuit and immediately won the FIA GT Championship with Ferrari. The following year he made a comeback in the ALMS, finishing runner-up and only narrowly missing out on his second overall victory. When BMW of North America was planning its ALMS comeback for 2009 with the racing version of the new BMW M3, Müller was the logical choice as driver. After sixth place in the car's debut year, the experienced ace is now fired up to win the title this year with the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team.

Even after countless races at this circuit, Uwe Alzen still waxes lyrical when speaking about the Nordschleife at the Nürburgring: “I grew up there. The Nürburgring is my home and backyard. It is unbelievably fascinating and there is nothing like it in the world.” This fascination also explains why the old hand has always returned to the Eifel Mountains over the course of his successful career. He is an evergreen at the 24-hour race, which he won for the first time in 2000. This year, partnered by team-mates Jörg Müller, Augusto Farfus and Pedro Lamy, he won the classic event for the second time. As final driver, he took the flag to score a perfect victory for Team BMW Motorsport.

In 1993 he also won the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps and finished second overall at the classic in Le Mans in 1998 – by the side of Jörg Müller. He went on to win the GT3 class one year later. In addition, he also competed in the DTM for Opel and Mercedes, claiming a total of six victories. Alzen was triumphant on two occasions in the Porsche Carrera Cup (1992 and 2007) and won the Porsche Supercup in 1994.

Only one thing counts for him in the cockpit: utmost concentration. “I always try to do everything possible before and after the race, in order to achieve the goals we set. However, there is no place for emotions in the car,” says Alzen. “Concentrated, professional work is what is required. Furthermore, it is a team sport. It is all about getting the car through the full distance. You cannot afford to put yourself ahead of the team.”

Dirk Adorf has been racing round the Nürburgring's Nordschleife for almost 20 years. While other drivers are awestruck when they speak about the toughest circuit in the world, the experienced racing driver was looking forward to driving through his “living room” during the 2010 24-hour race. “By no means, however, does that mean that I have lost my respect for the circuit,” he says. “The Nordschleife would punish that kind of attitude immediately.”

Adorf is not only experienced, but also quick. This was proven during this year’s edition of the 24-hour race on the Nordschleife. He convincingly recorded competitive lap times, and was a crucial factor in the chase which saw the BMW M3 GT2 bearing car number 26 move up from 182nd position to seventh by the finish.

He has won the VLN Endurance Championship, which is contested every year on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, three times. The racing driver from the Westerwald region has no less than 55 class victories in the VLN to his name. The fans of this championship crowned him “Driver of the Year” on two occasions. He is also a regular competitor in the 24-hour race. His greatest success to date at this classic came in 2007, when he finished third overall for the Land-Motorsport team. Last year he claimed pole position in a Ford GT, setting a new lap record in the process.

Adorf has been through the “Green Hell” in many different cars. However, he is particularly taken with the BMW M3 GT2. “I have never driven a better car at the Nordschleife,” he says. “It is not just the sheer performance that is outstanding. The overall package of downforce, driveability, feel-good factor for the driver and speed is just perfect.”

Pedro Lamy is one of five drivers in Team BMW Motorsport who have already gained experience in a Formula One car. Between 1993 and 1996 he contested 32 Grands Prix and scored a World Championship point for Minardi in Adelaide in 1995. In 1997 sports and touring cars became his profession, while endurance races turned into a passion. Since then Lamy has started at ten 24-hour races in Le Mans, where he finished second overall in 2007. He has also raced at several 24-hour races in Spa-Francorchamps, including with the BMW M3 GTR in 2004.

Lamy celebrated his first triumph at the Nürburgring in 2001, when he notched up the most laps after 24-hours with Zakspeed. He followed this the next year with his second overall victory. The endurance specialist also lined up in the “Green Hell” in 2004, this time in a BMW M3 GTR. Alongside Duncan Huisman and Boris Said, he finished second behind his fellow Team BMW Motorsport drivers. However, he was also the fourth driver for the winning team of Hans-Joachim Stuck, Jörg Müller and Dirk Müller, earning him a race win in the statistics. By the side of Priaulx, Huisman and Said, Lamy won the 24-hour race for the fourth time in 2005./p>

Five years later victory number five followed with Team BMW Motorsport. Only Marcel Tiemann has recorded as many victories in the “Green Hell” as has the Portuguese.