BMW Motorsport News – Issue 10/13.

Whether in the DTM, the American Le Mans Series, or countless other championships: week after week BMW teams and drivers around the world do battle for points, victories and titles. Away from the track too, members of the large BMW Motorsport family around the world are also creating headlines. The “BMW Motorsport News” allows us to regularly summarise all the action for you in a compact and informative manner. This way, you are always up to speed.

DTM tests at Barcelona: all the eight BMW drivers involved.

The preparations for the DTM season opener, held on 5th May 2013 at Hockenheim (DE), are entering their final phase. In the coming week, all the three manufacturers will travel to Spain for a joint test at Barcelona. Over the course of the four days of testing – from Tuesday to Friday – all the BMW drivers will be involved. On the first two days, Augusto Farfus (BR), Timo Glock (DE), Bruno Spengler (CA) and Martin Tomczyk (DE) will drive their BMW M3 DTMs. After this, for the last two days, Joey Hand (US), Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Werner (DE) and Marco Wittmann (DE) will take over. From 9th to 12th April, Hockenheim will be the venue for the second and final joint pre-season test.

BMW DTM drivers present their cars in the BMW Welt.

Shortly before the four-day test at Hockenheim, the BMW Motorsport DTM squad will make a stopover at home: on 6th April the eight BMW drivers will present their BMW M3 DTM cars in Munich’s ‘BMW Welt. They will drive their cars to the exhibition area, the so-called ‘Premiere’, in spectacular style and then pose for the BMW Welt visitors next to their cars. Following the presentation, two autograph sessions will be held at the BMW Welt plaza. There, the fans will have the chance of getting really close to the drivers. In addition to the drivers, the Team Principals – Charly Lamm (DE), Ernest Knoors (NL), Bart Mampaey (BE) and Stefan Reinhold (DE) – as well as BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt also will be on site.

VLN: Season opener in the ‘Green Hell’ postponed due to long winter.

Due to the long winter in Germany, both the VLN Endurance Championship pre-season test and the season opener of the series held at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE) had to be cancelled – but both events are scheduled to be held at a later date. The organisers have already announced the 5th and 6th April as new dates for the test runs. The 60th ADAC Westfalenfahrt that was scheduled for 23rd March is to be rescheduled for the second half of the season, after the Nürburgring 24-hour race has been run.

FIA WTCC: Difficult start to the season for the BMW drivers.

Continuous rain turned the start of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) season at Monza (IT) into a gamble, with all the competitors sliding all over the place. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the eight BMW drivers at the wheels of their BMW 320 TCs also had their problems with the difficult conditions. Despite several off-track moments, three BMW drivers, Fredy Barth (CH), Tom Coronel (NL) and Stefano D’Aste (IT), succeeded in securing championship points in the two races. In the Drivers' Trophy, Barth (round one) and D’Aste (round two) made it onto the podium by finishing third. Both races were won by Chevrolet’s Yvan Muller (FR).

Three questions for… BMW driver Fredy Barth (Wiechers-Sport).

Fredy, your first weekend in the WTCC – and you had to cope with extremely difficult conditions right away. How would you sum it up?

Fredy Barth: “It was really thrilling as there were so many new things to learn. Compared to my tests at the Slovakiaring, Monza is a completely different racetrack. So, I virtually had to familiarise myself with the BMW 320 TC for a second time. Consequently, my practice times were not that good, but you could see we have got what it takes to match the pace of the other BMW drivers.”

With the two Monza rounds contested, you are fourth in the Drivers' Trophy, therefore the best-placed BMW driver...

Barth: “It goes without saying I’m happy about the result, but on such a difficult weekend, this wasn’t the priority. Due to the rain, this weekend proved to be a true acid test that allowed me to cover many kilometres and learn a lot. As I see it, we successfully passed our test.”

What are your goals for the season?

Barth: “I will keep on working on myself – just as the team will keep on working on our BMW 320 TC. We will give our very best to be among the best BMW representatives on the FIA WTCC grid.”