BMW Motorsport News – Issue 19/14.

Whether in the DTM, the United SportsCar Championship, 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: Second win of the season for BMW Team RMG and Wittmann.
Another comeback ends in a victory for BMW in the DTM: when the series returned to Hungary after an absence of 26 years, it was Marco Wittmann (DE) of BMW Team RMG who crossed the finish line first. The 24-year-old was joined on the podium for the first time this season by Bruno Spengler (CA). Maxime Martin (BE) and António Félix da Costa (PT) also finished in the points at the Hungaroring. After three of ten races, Wittmann leads the Drivers’ Championship with 50 points. BMW Team RMG is currently first in the Team competition.

Three questions for … BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt.

Mr Marquardt, we are already almost a third of the way into the DTM season. How would you sum up the year so far?
Jens Marquardt: “We can be very satisfied with what we have achieved so far: the debut of the new BMW M4 DTM immediately yielded our first victory of the year. BMW Team RMG has won two of the three races with Marco Wittmann. He tops the Drivers’ Championship, while BMW Team RMG leads the team competition. There are obviously areas in which we have room for improvement in order to achieve even better results across the board. Basically, however, it has been a very good start for us.”

Please paraphrase each of the three races in just a few key words …
Marquardt: “Hockenheim: a magnificent success to mark the debut of the BMW M4 DTM. Oschersleben: a thrilling race, but no luck with the weather. Hungaroring: Marco Wittman’s dominance, together with some over-aggressive manoeuvres from the opposition – namely Edoardo Mortara.”

What are your hopes for the rest of the season?
Marquardt: “As far as our results are concerned, I would like to see one or two more wins for the BMW M4 DTM. Apart from that, I hope the races continue to be as exciting as the first three. I hope that the drivers in the DTM, who are otherwise very fair, do not take inspiration from the overly-aggressive manoeuvres we witnessed in Budapest.”

DTM: Glock hits the track in a historic BMW M3.
Twenty six years after the two DTM races in 1988, the BMW M3 from that time made its comeback on the Hungaroring. Only the man behind the wheel was new: BMW Team MTEK driver Timo Glock. Before qualifying second – his best qualifying result of the season – in the BMW M4 DTM, Glock took to the track in the BMW M3. The iconic car had been equipped with numerous cameras by TV station ARD, who then used the material recorded for a detailed introduction to the circuit. “It was great fun,” said Glock afterwards. “I was out of breath after just one lap. It is incredible what the drivers were capable of in the cockpit back then.”

USCC: Sixth place for Turner Motorsport in the GTD class.
Turner Motorsport competed in the BMW Z4 GTD for the next round of the UNITED SportsCar Championship (USCC) in Detroit Belle Isle (US) on Saturday. Dane Cameron (US) and Markus Palttala (FI) finished sixth in the GTD class in the number 63 car. Victory went to Ferrari drivers Alessandro Balzan (IT) and Jeff Westphal (US). It was the first of two USCC races in June, in which the GTLM class does not take part, as a number of the teams are in action at the Le Mans 24 Hours (FR). The second of these races is the Grand Prix of Kansas at the Kansas Speedway (US) this coming weekend.

British GT: BMW Sports Trophy team is on the podium.
Marco Attard (GB) and Alexander Sims (GB) were on the podium again in the British GT Championship. The duo from the Ecurie Ecosse team achieved this at the end of the three-hour race in Silverstone (GB). The two Triple Eight Engineering BMW Z4 GT3s ended the third round of the season in sixth and 11th. Victory went to Aston Martin.

Japanese Super GT: No podium for BMW Sports Trophy teams.
After two wins at the opening two races of the season in the Japanese Super GT Championship, the BMW Z4 GT3 failed to make it onto the podium in race three at Autopolis (JP). The two-time winners from Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO had to settle for 16th this time around. Just ahead of them in 15th were Jörg Müller (DE) and Seiji Ara (JP) of BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie. Akira Iida (JP) and Hiroki Yoshimoto (JP) finished seventh in the best-placed BMW Z4 GT3, run by the TWS LM team.

12h Zandvoort: Podium for BMW in the A5 class.
Team RTR projects finished second in the A5 class at the 12 Hours of Zandvoort (NL). The Czech trio of Milan Kodidek, Tomas Kwolek and Martin Sipek completed 292 laps in a BMW M3 GTR to finish runner-up in their class behind the Altran team’s Peugeot and 15th overall. In the D1 class, for diesel-powered cars, there was a one-two-three for the BMW 120d. The Sorg Rennsport team took the opportunity to compete in the endurance race on the North Sea coast with the BMW M235i Racing, and to give the car an outing on a track other than the Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE). After 274 laps, Gustav Engljähringer (AT), Marc Dilger (DE), Marek Wisniewski (PL) and Mike Smit (NL) crossed the finish line fifth in the A5 class.