BMW Motorsport News – Issue 20/13.
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.
ADAC GT Masters: ‘PIXUM Team Schubert’ claims one-two at the Sachsenring.
The third race meeting of the 2013 ADAC GT Masters season, held at the Sachsenring (DE), couldn’t have been much better for ‘PIXUM Team Schubert’ powered by Jochen Schweizer. Jens Klingmann (DE) and Max Sandritter (DE) won the second race on Sunday from pole, so securing the first win of the season for the BMW Z4 GT3 number 20. Meanwhile, Dominik Baumann (AT) and Claudia Hürtgen (DE) added to the great team result by finishing runners-up with the number 19 car, therefore giving the team a one-two. In round one on Saturday, Klingmann and Sandritter also made it onto the podium by finishing third. Baumann and Hürtgen failed to make it into the points in Saturday’s race but, thanks to having finished runners-up on Sunday, they now have a tally of 59 points, and are joint second in the drivers’ championship. “This was a virtually perfect race weekend for us”, said Team Manager Stefan Wendl. “We knew we would be in good form at the Sachsenring, but today’s one-two and a total of three podiums – that’s just great. We are absolutely delighted!” Jeroen den Boer (NL) and Simon Knap (NL), racing for Team DB Motorsport, finished fifth on Sunday and jointly hold third position in the championship now.
WTCC: Coronel just pipped in the battle for the win at Moscow.
In the first round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) meeting at Moscow (RU), Tom Coronel (NL) took his BMW 320 TC entered by ROAL Motorsport to second. At the end of the 15-lap race, he took the chequered flag just half a second behind Chevrolet’s Yvan Muller (FR). In the second round, both Coronel and pole-sitter Mehdi Bennani (MA) were struck by bad luck. Both BMW drivers were involved in collisions while fighting for podium positions and lost a lot of ground due to these incidents. Meanwhile, Stefano d’Aste (IT) and Darryl O’Young (HK) scored points by finishing eighth and ninth respectively. The win in race two was secured by Chevrolet driver Michel Nykjaer (DK). In the World Championship rankings, Tom Coronel – the best-placed BMW driver – worked his way up to seventh.
French GT Tour: TDS Racing makes it to the podium.
The TDS Racing squad also had reasons to cheer, this weekend. In the first round of the French GT Tour event at Spa-Francorchamps (BE), Henry Hassid (FR) and Ludovic Badey (FR) took their BMW Z4 GT3 to second. In the end they crossed the finish line eight seconds after the victorious Audi. In the second race on Sunday the pairing finished 11th.
BTCC: Two podiums for Turkington at Oulton Park.
In the fourth race meeting of the 2013 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season, Colin Turkington (GB) finished second, third and fifth. In the second of the three races on Sunday he celebrated his first podium of the weekend at the wheel of the BMW 125i M Sport, then in race three he went one place better to finish second. Two of the three wins at Oulton Park (GB) were clinched by Jason Plato (GB), the third by Andrew Jordan (GB).
Battle of the champions: Spengler vs. Tomczyk.
The DTM Champions from the past two years, Bruno Spengler (CA) and Martin Tomczyk (DE), performed a special battle for a film shoot. At the wheel of two BMW M3s, they played a game of Tic Tac Toe and the result was a lot of action, tyre smoke and fun. Please find the video at the BMW Motorsport YouTube channel at: http://youtu.be/7dZINK01GNU.