Nürburgring (DE), 11th September 2016. BMW reached a milestone in
race 14 of the 2016 DTM season: Marco Wittmann (DE) finished third in
the Red Bull BMW M4 DTM on Sunday to claim the 250th podium for BMW in
the history of the DTM. The 15 points he received for finishing third
were sufficient for Wittmann to maintain his lead in the Drivers’
Championship. With four races remaining, he now has 170 points to his
name and a 33-point lead over Edoardo Mortara (IT, Audi), who won
Sunday’s race.
Bruno Spengler (CA) started from third on the grid, having achieved
his best qualifying result of the year, and eventually crossed the
finish line in sixth in the BMW Bank M4 DTM after a number of fierce
battles. Tom Blomqvist (GB) also finished in the points, coming home
eighth in the Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM. Because of this, BMW remains in
first place in the Manufacturers’ Championship with 520 points. BMW
Team RMG continues to lead the team competition, now with 228 points.
Maxime Martin (BE, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM) narrowly missed out on the
points in 11th. Starting from 19th after a technical issue in
qualifying, he produced an impressive fightback in the race – as did
Martin Tomczyk (DE), who finished 13th in the BMW M Performance Parts
M4 DTM. Timo Glock (DE) spun in the first corner following a collision
that was no fault of his own. He dropped to the back of the field, but
was able to fight his way back to 15th.
Augusto Farfus (BR, Shell BMW M4 DTM) was clearly on course for a
points finish after an excellent qualifying performance, but was then
handed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for an “unsafe release” during
his pit stop. He consequently had to settle for 21st. António Félix da
Costa (PT, BMW M4 DTM) crossed the finish line just ahead of him in 20th.
Reactions to the 14th race of the 2016 DTM season.
Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “As
expected, it was a tough race. However, you could see that Marco
Wittmann can also keep his nerve when the going gets tough. He drove
an extremely intelligent race, used the pace he had and claimed the
third spot on the podium. This was the 250th podium finish for BMW in
the DTM – that makes this result another very special one. As well as
Marco, we also had another two cars in the top ten. This was not easy,
given the weight we had on board today. However, we saw a great race
with good manoeuvres. There were also a few unnecessary incidents, but
I guess that is part and parcel of motor racing. All in all, the
weekend went very well for us. Marco tightened his grip on the lead in
the Drivers’ Championship thanks to his win and third place. We are
now looking forward to an exciting finale. I think we leave the
Nürburgring with a very positive result and can start preparing for Budapest.”
Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG, 3rd place): “We made it
onto the podium again, even though it was very close with Mattias
Ekström at the end. Therefore, I am happy with today – and proud to
have claimed a milestone podium for BMW in the DTM. Lucas Auer had a
very good start and I could not find a way past him without taking too
many risks. Our pace was good, but we were at a bit of a disadvantage
after our pit stop. The opposition had left a few drivers out to hold
up the leading group. That allowed Edoardo Mortara to work his way
through to the front and possibly cost me second place. Despite this,
it was a good weekend for me. I won yesterday, and finished third to
claim a spot on the podium today. That is a great result for me and
for BMW Team RMG.”
Facts and Figures.
Circuit/length/duration:
Nürburgring, 3.629 kilometres, 60 minutes plus 1 lap
Conditions:
Light cloud, 24 degrees Celsius
BMW Motorsport results:
#11 Marco Wittmann (DE), BMW Team RMG, Red Bull BMW
M4 DTM – 3rd place
#7 Bruno Spengler (CA), BMW Team MTEK, BMW Bank M4 DTM – 6th place
#31 Tom Blomqvist (GB), BMW Team RBM, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM – 8th place
#36 Maxime Martin (BE), BMW Team RBM, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM – 11th place
#100 Martin Tomczyk (DE), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M Performance Parts
M4 DTM – 13th place
#16 Timo Glock (DE), BMW Team RMG, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM – 15th place
#13 António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M4 DTM –
20th place
#18 Augusto Farfus (BR), BMW Team MTEK, Shell BMW M4 DTM – 21st place
Useful information:
Marco Wittmann claimed BMW’s 250th podium finish in
the history of the DTM.
This was Wittmann’s 14th DTM podium since making his debut in 2013,
and his fifth of the season.
Wittmann started the race from second. This is the fifth time this
season that he has started from the front row.
Third place was Bruno Spengler’s best qualifying result of the season.
More information.
You can find the latest BMW Motorsport media information, the
DTM Press Kit, and copyright-free images for editorial purposes online
at www.press.bmwgroup.com/global.
BMW Motorsport on the web.
Website:
www.bmw-motorsport.com
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www.facebook.com/bmwmotorsport
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www.instagram.com/bmwmotorsport
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Twitter:
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www.plus.google.com/+bmwmotorsport
About the DTM.
The DTM is the most popular touring car series in the world.
The series pits the three premium automobile manufacturers BMW, Audi
and Mercedes-Benz against each other in a sporting contest. BMW
fielded its first works teams from 1984 to 1992, during which time it
claimed 49 race victories and won the Drivers’ Championship on three
occasions (1984, 1987 and 1989). The manufacturer returned to the DTM
in 2012, since when it has won seven of a possible twelve titles. 18
races, spread over nine weekends, are scheduled for 2016. ARD
broadcasts all the races live. Tickets for all the DTM races are
available here: https://tickets.bmw-motorsport.com/index.html