Mühlner Motorsport is a name that is well known in sportscar racing both in European and in North America, most notably race in GT3 with Porsche.
Team Principal Bernhard Mühlner has a long history in motorsport stretching back to 1978 when he and his brother Hartmut built the first competitive vehicle, a VW Golf GTI, with which the brothers drove national rallies together.
In 1989, Mühlner Motorsport GmbH was founded, in which Bernhard Mühlner was responsible for the technology as a team manager and engineer. Numerous victories and six championships were won by the Mühlner Motorsport Team with the self-developed and built racing cars.
After many years racing GTs Mühlner Motorsport is embarking on their first European season in Le Mans Prototypes in the Michelin Le Mans Cup and Bernhard Mühlner has his sights firmly set on competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
We caught up with Bernhard Mühlner ahead of Round 2 of the 2020 Michelin Le Mans Cup following the teams excellent MLMC debut at Le Castellet which saw the no21 Duqueine M30-D08 driven by bronze drivers Tom Cloet and Moritz Kranz finish 4th after starting 16th on the grid.
Q: Your team is well known in Endurance Racing, especially in the GT classes with Porsche, why have you chosen to race an LMP3 car in the Michelin Le Mans Cup?
BM: “It is part of the plan over the next three to four years.We start in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, progress to the ELMS and the goal is to be part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So far our team has competed in 45 24-hour races and in 2022 we plan to be at Le Mans.”
Q: When did you start running prototypes?
BM: “We have already competed in America in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, so this is now the first year in Europe.”
Q: This is your team’s home race, what are your expectations this weekend at Spa?
BM: “We saw at the last round at Paul Ricard that our drivers are very good in the race.Both of them know this track very well and we hope for a good result. But, as always, you need a little bit of luck, which is sometimes necessary to get a good result.”
Q: Your crew is one of only two double bronze crews.What is the advantage for running two bronze drivers?
BM: “We can choose which driver does the qualifying and who will do the start.We hope over the season this flexibility will give us a small advantage.”
Q: You must have been pleased with the result in your debut race at Le Castellet?
BM: “Absolutely!We never expected this and they both did a perfect job in the race.We hope we can do it again this weekend at Spa.”
