Whether in the DTM, the IMSA WeatherTech 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: Tordoff celebrates successful chase and victory in Rockingham.
It did not look like a successful weekend was on the cards for the
BMW drivers in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) after a
difficult qualifying session in Rockingham (GB), but it resulted in an
impressive triumph for Sam Tordoff (GB) nonetheless. Having started
the weekend leading the drivers’ standings, he began the first of
three races on Sunday from 28th position. However, his BMW 125i M
Sport was much better than in qualifying and he was able to make up a
lot of ground, finishing in tenth place. Tordoff continued to improve
in the second race, recording an impressive victory. Rob Collard (GB)
produced a similar performance. In the first race, he moved up from
starting 27th to finish in 14th. He also enjoyed greater success in
the second race. He battled his way through the field like Tordoff,
reaching the podium in third place. The best-placed BMW driver in the
third race was Collard, in sixth position. Tordoff could only reach
16th on this occasion. Jack Goff (GB) was unable to record a top ten
result in the third BMW 125i M Sport.
Blancpain GT Series: debut for ROWE Racing at the Hungaroring.
Four weeks after triumphing at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
(BE), ROWE Racing returned to the racetrack for the first time in the
Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup at the Hungaroring (HU). This was the
team’s debut at the circuit near the Hungarian capital, and they
competed with two BMW M6 GT3s. One of the cars was brand new, as the
winning car from Spa is no longer in competition. Philipp Eng (AT) and
Alexander Sims (GB), victorious in Spa, were not able to continue
racing at the pace they had shown in the Ardennes. They finished in
13th place in Sunday’s main race. Their team-mates Nick Catsburg (NL)
and Stef Dusseldorp (NL) crossed the line in 15th position. Victory
went to Mercedes.
Japanese Super GT: bad luck for Farfus co. in Suzuka
BMW DTM driver Augusto Farfus (BR) guested for BMW Team Studie in the
Japanese Super GT Championship at the weekend. He supported Seiji Ara
(JP) and BMW works driver Jörg Müller (DE), in the BMW M6 GT3 at the
highlight of the season, the 1000 Kilometres of Suzuka. However, the
race weekend ended early. The team was unable to start the race due to
technical problems in the warm-up. Autobacs Racing Team Aguri
completed the race 14th in the GT300 class after 158 laps in the
second BMW M6 GT3.
Australian GT Championship: BMW Team SRM competing in Sydney.
At the weekend, BMW Team SRM competed in the second race of the
Australian Endurance Championship season at the Sydney Motorsport Park
(AU). Steve Richards (NZ) and Max Twigg (AU) started the 101-lap race
from 11th, and were within touching distance of a top ten result.
However, a collision in the closing phase pushed the duo back through
the field. The third race of the season takes place on 30th October in
Hampton Downs (NZ).
IWSC: Third row of the grid for BMW Team RLL cars in the heat
of VIR.
In one of the closest and, without doubt, hottest qualifying sessions
of the year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar (IWSC) at the Virginia
International Raceway (US) the BMW Team RLL cars secured the third row
of the grid for the ninth round of the series. It was John Edwards
(US) who claimed fifth in the number 100 BMW M6 GTLM, while Dirk
Werner (DE) in the number 25 car was sixth. The temperatures soared
into the low thirties with very high humidity for the 15 minute
session that was held at the hottest part of the day, and the nine
cars in the GTLM class were covered by just 0.815secs. As the race is
only for GT cars, this means they started at the front end of the
grid. In the GTD class the Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3s of Michael
Marsal (US) and Markus Palttala (FI) (number 97) and Bret Curtis (US)
and Jens Klingmann (DE) (number 96) were ninth and tenth respectively.
The two hour forty minute race will not finish until late Sunday
evening European time.
BMW M235i Racing: double-header in China.
The BMW M235i Racing competed in two race events at the Chengdu
International Circuit (CN) at the weekend. On Friday, Steven Lin (CN),
Jack Gu (CN), Terbo Yu (CN) and Ulrich Sanne (ZA) claimed victory in
the five-hour Chinese Endurance Championship (CEC) race. The quartet
beat off strong competition from the 13-car field, delivering a
impressive performance with consistent lap times. On Sunday, the
Southwest Touring Car Elite race took place. Four BMW M235i Racings
took part in this event. The BMW that claimed a class victory also
secured an impressive third place in the overall standings.