Another podium for BMW at the Hungaroring: Maxime Martin finishes third on Sunday after a strong catch-up race.

Hungaroring. The BMW teams had another podium to celebrate
after Sunday’s race at the Hungaroring (HUN). After Timo Glock (GER)
and Bruno Spengler (CAN) had finished second and third on Saturday,
Maxime Martin (BEL) finished third on Sunday. He achieved a
spectacular catch-up from the back of the grid. Martin pitted after
the first lap and made up 15 places during the course of the race
thanks to this daring tactic. The BMW Team RBM driver celebrated his
first podium of the season. After his success the day before, Glock
finished seventh, making him the only BMW driver to pick up points
in both of the weekend’s races. Marco Wittmann (GER) was unlucky on
Sunday: The DTM champion started from the front row of the grid
after qualifying in second place, and was in sixth place when he was
forced to retire shortly before the end of the race.

 

Qualifying:
Marco Wittmann (Red Bull BMW M4 DTM)
held the best time for much of the 20-minute session, before René Rast
(GER, Audi) overtook him shortly before the end. However, second place
saw the reigning DTM champion start from the front row for the first
time this season. His personal best time of 1:34.803 minutes was just
0.063 seconds slower than the pole time. Timo Glock (DEUTSCHE POST BMW
M4 DTM), Augusto Farfus (BRA, Shell BMW M4 DTM) and Tom Blomqvist
(GBR, BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM) also made it into the top ten in
eighth, ninth and tenth. Bruno Spengler (BMW Bank M4 DTM) and Maxime
Martin (SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM) started the sixth race of the season from
17th and 18th on the grid.

 

The race:

Marco Wittmann dropped back a position at the start and was in third
place going into the first turn. Maxime Martin started from the back
of the grid and opted for the same strategy that Bruno Spengler used
on Saturday. He made an early pit stop after the first lap. This
tactic paid off thanks to consistently fast lap times. As the other
drivers pitted during the course of the race, Martin moved up the
field position by position, ending up in third place. He defended this
position against Nico Müller (SUI, Audi) down to the finish. Making up
15 places saw Martin finish on the podium for the first time this
season. Wittmann wasn’t quite able to keep up with the pace of the
frontrunners for the entire race because a polystyrene part blocked
his cooler, leaving him to battle with increased oil temperatures.
Despite this handicap, he was safely in the points in sixth place
until shortly before the end of the race, when his car overheated and
forced him to end his race early. After finishing second on Saturday,
Timo Glock finished seventh. Augusto Farfus, Tom Blomqvist and Bruno
Spengler crossed the finish line in 12th, 13th
and 14th.

 

The reactions:

 

BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt: “Like on
Saturday, our aggressive strategy with the very early pit stop by
Maxime Martin gave us a podium on Sunday. I’m really happy after the
bad luck that he had this weekend up to that point. Congratulations to
the whole team, who once again did an outstanding job. Compared with
yesterday, we improved the performance of our car. I feel really bad
for Marco Wittmann with his late retirement. A polystyrene part got
jammed in the cooling duct of his car during the race. The lack of
cooling air meant that he had permanent problems with temperatures.
Unfortunately, he was forced to return the overheated car to the
garage. Overall, we got the best out of this weekend with three podium
positions. But we need to keep working on the consistency of all the
BMWs and bring the performance of our cars closer together and
stabilise this at the optimum level. We will work hard on this,
focussing on the races at the Norisring with its special features.
Congratulations to René Rast on his first DTM win.”

 

Stefan Reinhold (team principal, BMW Team RMG): “Timo
did a good job and was able to fend off the competition well. Marco
picked up a polystyrene part from a crash barrier during the race,
which got stuck in front of the cooler. This meant that the car had a
high oil temperature throughout the race, which ultimately forced
Marco to retire from the race. Now we need to check what happened
exactly. And we need to analyse why Augusto didn’t have the pace.”

 

Marco Wittmann (#11, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM – Grid position:
2nd, race result: 17th place – 62 races, 8
wins, 16 podiums, 8 pole positions, 547 points, 2 Drivers’ titles):
“After qualifying I was very happy with the second place on
the grid. Ultimately, our performance was good, only the drivers who
stopped on the first lap were able to overtake us. That was the better
strategy here, and cost us two places. However, it was quite warm in
the car after the pit stop, and we didn’t really know what was causing
that to start with. In the end, it turned out that polystyrene got
stuck in the right-hand air duct. The car eventually gave up the
ghost, although it battled for a long time. That was very frustrating
and disappointing for us.”

 

Augusto Farfus (#15, Shell BMW M4 DTM – Grid position:
9th, race result: 12th place – 72 races, 4
wins, 12 podiums, 5 pole positions, 345 points):
“The
traffic was very heavy and we just couldn’t do any more. It is really
frustrating because we wanted to improve. We were unable to. Now we
need to analyse what went wrong and how we can improve.”

 

Timo Glock (#16, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM – Grid position:
8th, race result: 7th place – 62 races, 3
wins, 7 podiums, 2 pole positions, 262 points):
“Overall,
my speed was good and I was able to keep up with the pace of the other
drivers well. But as soon as I was close enough to the car in front, I
lost grip on the front axle. That was the restricting factor for me
today. It meant that the tyres wore down more quickly. But ultimately
it is important that we were able to pick up a few points. We can be
happy with that. It was particularly bitter for Marco, who retired
right in front of me. Congratulations to René Rast on his first win.”

 

Bart Mampaey (team principal, BMW Team RBM): “I think
our podium success was a result of various factors. If you have to
start from the back of the grid, you have to take action. Maxime was
able to make up several positions on the very first lap. Then the
entire team did a fantastic pit stop. Ultimately, Maxime had the right
pace and enough space. The other drivers tried to react, but it was
too late. That was one aspect of the race, the other was tyre
management. Maxime managed to make the tyres last for the whole race.
His performance was fantastic on the final ten laps in particular, and
he almost caught Mattias Ekström. It was great. Thanks to the whole
team for the brilliant performance and the hard work. We really
deserved this result.”

 

Bruno Spengler (#7, BMW Bank BMW M4 DTM – Grid position:
17th, race result: 14th place – 145 races, 14
wins, 46 podiums, 17 pole positions, 775 points, 1 Drivers’ title):
“Many things didn’t quite go according to plan today.
Unfortunately, our strategy in qualifying didn’t work out, which is
why I had to start from way down the field. You need to take risks
from a position like that. That worked for us yesterday. But today I
didn’t think that it would work twice in a row. Which is why I played
it safe. In the end, we were only able to get 14th place.”

 

Tom Blomqvist (#31, BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM – Grid
position: 10th, race result: 13th place – 42
races, 1 win, 5 podiums, 1 pole position, 174 points):
“It
just wasn’t my race. I lost a few places at the start. After that it
went quite well, but our strategy didn’t work today. Then we had an
incident during the pit stop. We weren’t able to make up the deficit.
But at least I made it to the finish line after a few unfortunate retirements.”

 

Maxime Martin (#36, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM – Grid position:
18th, race result: 3rd place – 52 races, 2
wins, 7 podiums, 2 pole positions, 263 points):
“That was a
tough race. We didn’t have anything to lose starting from the back of
the grid. Which is why we tried something different, and I pushed hard
right from the start, to try and get as much out of the race as
possible. My team did a fantastic job with the tyres. They lasted to
the end and I was able to really put my foot down. That was a good
response to yesterday.”

 

The standings:

 

Drivers: 1. René Rast (70 points), 2. Lucas Auer
(69), 3. Jamie Green (65), 4. Mattias Ekström (62), 5. Gary Paffett
(54), 6. Mike Rockenfeller (54), 7. Timo Glock (49),
8. Paul di Resta (45), 9. Robert Wickens (42), 10. Nico
Müller (33), 11. Maxime Martin (32), 12. Marco Wittmann (24),
13. Edoardo Mortara (21), 14. Bruno Spengler (17),
15. Maro Engel (3), 16. Tom Blomqvist (2), 17.
Augusto Farfus (0),
18. Loic Duval (0).

 

Teams: 1. Audi Sport Team Rosberg (135 points), 2.
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me (96), 3. Audi Sport Team Abt
Sportsline (95), 4. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT (90), 5. Audi Sport
Team Phoenix (54), 6. BMW Team RMR (51), 7. BMW Team RBM (49),
8. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy (48),
9. BMW Team RMG (24).

 

Manufacturers: 1. Audi (284 points), 2. Mercedes
(234), 3. BMW (124).

 

The service:

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