BMW Motorsport News – Issue 34/14.

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.

Media marathon for DTM champion Wittmann after title win.
No sooner had the celebrations ended at the Lausitzring (DE) than the newly-crowned DTM champion, Marco Wittmann (DE), was embarking on a media marathon. The first telephone interviews were conducted on the way home from the Lausitzring. These were followed over the course of the week by a video shoot for ARD, as well as numerous visits to print, TV and online editorial offices. Last Friday, Wittmann made his debut as a co-commentator on TV station Sport1’s Formula One show. Prior to this he had visited the headquarters of BMW Motorsport, where he thanked all the departments for their support throughout the magnificent DTM season. “What a week,” said Wittmann. “I have hardly had chance to take in what I achieved at the Lausitzring. It is incredible how much interest there has been since winning the title. This last week has been tiring, but you obviously enjoy all the appointments as DTM champion. I wake up every morning with a smile on my face.” Wittmann and his BMW colleagues will visit Oktoberfest in Munich on Tuesday, before dropping in to the ARD Morgenmagazin programme on his way to the next race in Zandvoort (NL). “We want to get the best possible result again there,” said Wittmann. “After all, the titles are still up for grabs in the Team and Manufacturers’ Championships.”

Tough test for the BMW Motorsport Juniors in Valencia.
BMW Motorsport Juniors Jake Hughes (GB), Jesse Krohn (FI), Alexander Mies (DE) and Moisés Soriano (ES) were in action in Valencia (ES) last weekend, where they had to demonstrate their ability in both the Formula BMW FB02 and the BMW M235i Racing. Driver training sessions with both cars took centre stage, along with assessments focussing on performance and results in particular. The quartet simulated qualifying and lined up for a race against each other in the single-seater car. “We wanted to put our Juniors in a pressure situation by introducing a competitive element to the test,” said head instructor Dirk Adorf (DE). “They all did their job very well. The constant changing between the two types of car meant they had to adapt quickly to their features. Our Juniors managed that very well.” The Juniors’ next race in the BMW M235i Racing is on 11th October, when they race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE) within the VLN Endurance Championship.

USCC: Cameron/Palttala mark anniversary in the GTD class with a podium.
Dane Cameron (US) and Markus Palttala (FI), at the wheel of a Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GTD, finished third to claim a spot on the podium at the penultimate race of the United SportsCar Championship (USCC) in Austin (US). It was the team’s 300th professional race with BMW. BMW Team RLL finished sixth and seventh in the GTLM class. Bill Auberlen (US) and Andy Priaulx (GB) finished sixth in the black number 55 BMW Z4 GTLM, completing 75 laps of the 5.513 kilometre, 20-turn circuit at the chequered flag after the 2 hour 45 minutes race. John Edwards (US) and Dirk Müller (DE) finished seventh in the white number 56 BMW Z4 GTLM.

Three questions for … Will Turner.

Why did you pick BMW as the car to race?

Will Turner: “I picked the BMW platform as I knew the street cars already performed very well and it was pretty easy to convert a street BMW to a racing BMW, which was a big advantage. Since then we have had just tremendous success with racing BMWs. One thing has led to another, and I have never really wanted to stray from the BMW brand. A few roller coaster rides and six championships later and we are at the 300th race. Time flies.”

Can you explain how it all started and what your current philosophy is?

Turner: “I personally started racing BMWs in 1992 and the team was basically me. When we went professional racing in 1998 it was still me driving and I drove full time until 2009, when I stopped and became the quarter back of the team. Now as the team owner I am not just the owner with the money, or in racing I should say the owner without the money, as I am also involved in the whole part of the team. The philosophy is simple. I am very fortunate that the slogan of 'Race on Sunday Sell on Monday’ works. The backbone of what we do is success and presence at race tracks all over North America, and then turn that into sales of performance parts when we are not racing.”

Tell us about your drivers and the team members.

Turner: “I have been fortunate to have a lot of BMW factory drivers in some of my cars. I guess the name that is synonymous with Turner motorsport is Bill Auberlen. He started racing with us, which is great as it is better than racing against us as Bill is obviously a fantastic driver. He has been the staple of the Turner Motorsport team and a lot of my success is based on having a driver like Bill, who is not only just a factory BMW driver, but he is a driver, an engineer, a marketeer and a little bit of everything. He has definitely helped us along the way. In total I have had ten BMW factory drivers in the team, either before or after being works drivers. The people who have done the most races are Bill, Joey Hand, who did a couple of seasons, and also Boris Said.”

--

CTSCC: BMW one-two in Austin.
The penultimate round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday was won by the Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 of John Edwards (US) and Trent Hindman (US), with the Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Tom Kimber-Smith (GB) and Michael Marsal (US) second. After a dry start the rain came 40 minutes before the end of the two and a half hour race and the winning team made the right tyre call to go onto the wets. This win means Hindman is now leading the Grand Sport driver points. As usual, as soon as the race was over Edwards was back on duty with BMW Team RLL in the United SportsCar Championship and qualified the team’s BMW Z4 GTLM. In the Street Tuner class the highest placed BMW was the Burton Racing BMW 128i of Conner Bloum (US) and Jeff Westphal (US) in fourth.

ADAC GT Masters: Podium for “PIXUM Team Schubert” at the Sachsenring.
The penultimate race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters season ended with a third place on Saturday, followed by fifth and sixth in Sunday’s race at the Sachsenring (DE) for “PIXUM Team Schubert” powered by Jochen Schweizer. Dominik Baumann (AT) and Claudia Hürtgen (DE) started from sixth on Saturday in their BMW Z4 GT3, and climbed into a podium position thanks to a very good strategy and a flawless drive. On Sunday, the same duo started from ninth and, despite problems during the pit stop and a spin, which was through no fault of their own, still managed to come home sixth. Jens Klingmann (DE) and Max Sandritter (DE) finished just in front of them in fifth place on Sunday. They were running third until shortly before the finish, but dropped two positions when it started to rain and the track became extremely slippery. The number 20 BMW Z4 GT3 retired from Saturday’s race with a puncture. Victory in both races went to Audi drivers René Rast (DE) and Kelvin van der Linde (ZA), who lead the championship.

Blancpain Endurance Series: TDS Racing wins the Pro-Am class.
Henry Hassid (FR) and Nick Catsburg (NL) finished fourth overall at the season finale of the Blancpain Endurance Series – the iconic 1000km race at the Nürburgring. In doing so, they also won the Pro-Am class. The TDS Racing duo completed 157 laps of the Grand Prix circuit in the Eifel Mountains in their BMW Z4 GT3. Jody Firth (GB), Warren Hughes (GB) and Alexander Sims (GB) also finished in the top ten overall, coming home ninth in the BMW Z4 GT3 run by the Triple 888 Racing team.