BMW Motorsport News – Issue 29/15.

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.

BTCC: Andy Priaulx celebrates his birthday, then double podium success.

At the sixth meeting of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in Snetterton (GB) BMW works driver Andy Priaulx (GB) had every reason to celebrate. The three-time touring car world champion turned 42 on Saturday and treated himself to the best belated birthday present: In the second of a total of three races held on Sunday, he finished in third place and had the pleasure of a champagne shower on the podium. In the BMW 125i M Sport of West Surrey Racing he also drove the fastest lap by far with a time of 1:58.066 minutes. At the end of the day he was the third to see the chequered flag once again. Priaulx finished fifth in the first race. His team-mate Sam Tordoff (GB) improved from race to race and finished in seventh, fifth and fourth in the three BTCC races in Snetterton. However, Rob Collard (GB), who is also with West Surrey Racing, was extremely unlucky. After an incident with team-mate Tordoff on the opening lap of the first race, and as a result of further collisions, he was forced to return to the pits early with damage to the rear of his car and a flat tyre. Despite all that, Collard was able to contest the second race, but never stood a chance. He finished in a good tenth place in the third race.

USCC: Fourth and sixth on the grid for BMW Team RLL.

It was a disappointing qualifying session for BMW Team RLL in the seventh round of the United SportsCar Championship (USCC) at Road America (US) as the BMW Z4 GTLMs qualified in fourth and sixth. After a total wash out due to heavy rain on Friday, the teams were happy to see dry conditions for Saturday’s 15 minute qualifying session, with John Edwards (US) in the number 24 car finishing fourth and Bill Auberlen (US) in the number 25 sister car sixth. For the second event running it was a Porsche that took pole and this time it was Earl Bamber (NZ) who was driving.   As usual, Edwards is partnered by Lucas Luhr (DE) and Auberlen by Dirk Werner (DE). In the GTD class the Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GTD qualified ninth with Mike Marsal (US), who shares the car with Markus Palttala (FI), at the wheel. The two hour forty minute race was due to start at 15.05 (ET) today.

USCC: BMW Z4 GTLM contests Road America with “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation” livery.

The number 24 BMW Team RLL Z4, driven by John Edwards (US) and Lucas Luhr (DE), will be racing with Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation livery this weekend in Round Seven of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship (USCC) at Road America (US). The fifth instalment of the Mission: Impossible movie franchise from Paramount and Skydance Media opened to #1 at the worldwide box office on July 31st and reached a global box office gross of more than $150 million in its first week of release. The film features several BMW models, including the all-new BMW 7 Series, the brand’s flagship in its sixth generation. BMW is the exclusive worldwide automotive partner of this instalment of the legendary action film franchise starring Tom Cruise (US).

CTSCC: Fall-Line Motorsport back on podium at Road America.

Ashley Freiberg (US) and Trent Hindman (US) drove the number 46 Fall-Line Motorsport BMW M3 back onto the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (CTSCC) podium, finishing third in the Grand Sport class in Saturday's two-hour-and-thirty-minute race at Road America (US). Freiberg started the race from ninth on the grid in the class and the duo combined to put in a strong performance to complete 57 laps of the 4.0-mile, 14-turn circuit, finishing 1.6 seconds behind the winning Porsche of Matt Plumb (US) and Hugh Plumb (US). In the Street Tuner class, the highest finishing BMW was the number 81 Bimmerworld Racing BMW 328i of Tyler Cooke (US) and Andrie Hartanto (US) in fourth.

Japanese Super GT: BMW Z4 GT3 misses out on the podium by 0.4 seconds.

In the fourth race of the season of the Japanese Super GT Championship, the BMW Z4 GT3 of LM corsa only narrowly missed out on making it onto the podium. After 61 laps on the “Fuji Speedway” (JP), Morio Nitta (JP) and Shigekazu Wakisaka (JP) were fourth to see the chequered flag in the GT300 class. The duo missed out on third place by just 0.428 seconds. After 37 laps, the race came to an early end for BMW works drivers Jörg Müller (DE) and Seiji Ara (JP) in the BMW Z4 GT3 of BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie.

Asian Le Mans Series: Dirk Müller will contest two ALMS races.

After Dirk Müller (DE) supported the Triple Eight Racing team at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BE), he will now compete in the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) for AAI-Rstrada. Müller will be at the wheel of the AAI-Rstrada BMW Z4 GT3 at the two hour race at Fuji (JP) on 11th October. On 8th November he will then contest the three hour race at Sepang (MY) for the team.