BMW Motorsport News – Issue 38/16.

Another podium for BMW Team Teo Martín – season finales in the
Blancpain GT Series, BTCC and IWSC

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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.

BMW Motorsport Junior Programme: Menzel celebrates his debut
in the BMW M6 GT3.

Next weekend, BMW Motorsport Junior Nico Menzel (DE) will celebrate
his race debut in the BMW M6 GT3. At the ninth race of the VLN
Endurance Racing Championship at the Nürburgring (DE), he will share
the cockpit of the BMW M6 GT3 with BMW works driver Jens Klingmann
(DE). Menzel got his first taste of the GT flagship car from BMW last
week when he took part in a roll-out for ROWE Racing.

VLN: Another BMW M6 GT3 on the Nordschleife.

The starting line-up for the penultimate race in the VLN Endurance
Racing Championship at the Nürburgring (DE) on 8th October will
include another BMW M6 GT3. Competing on the legendary Nordschleife
with a BMW M6 GT3 is a one-off for FALKEN Motorsport. BMW works driver
Philipp Eng (AT) and Alexandre Imperatori (CH) will share driving
duties during the 4-hour race in the “Green Hell”.

IWSC:
Action-packed finale in Road Atlanta
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Torn-up asphalt, burning cars and numerous safety car phases: the
final round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) in
Road Atlanta (US) once again offered American fans a superb display of
action-packed GT racing, with a host of incidents. Unfortunately, BMW
Team RLL was also caught up in the turmoil at the 11th and final round
of the year. John Edwards (US), Lucas Luhr (DE) and Kuno Wittmer (CA)
finished sixth at “Petit Le Mans” – despite the trio falling many laps
behind the leaders as a result of a crash and a faulty alternator. A
problem with the steering meant that the ten-hour race came to a
premature end for Dirk Werner (DE), Bill Auberlen (US) and August
Farfus (BR). Markus Palttala (FI), Michael Marsal (US) and Cameron
Lawrence (US) came home fourth in the GTD class.

International GT Open:
Podium for BMW Team Teo Martín
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BMW Team Teo Martín finished on the podium again at the penultimate
race weekend of the 2016 International GT Open in Monza (IT). Gustavo
Yacaman (CO) and Fernando Monje (ES), in the number 2 BMW M6 GT3,
finished second in race two on Sunday. Their team-mates Pieter
Schothorst (NL) and Miguel Ramos (PT) retired with a technical issue.
Yacaman/Monje finished fifth in Saturday’s opening race, just ahead of
Schothorst/Ramos in sixth place. These results mean the team narrowly
missed out on wrapping up the title in the Team competition, with
races still to come. However, they were able to extend their lead. The
title race will now be decided at the season finale in Barcelona (ES)
on 5th and 6th November.

BTCC: Tordoff misses out on overall victory by a whisker.

Thrilling finale in the British Touring Car Championship: The title
race in the 2016 Drivers’ Championship was only decided in the last of
the three races of the season finale at Brands Hatch (GB). Sam Tordoff
(GB), who produce consistently good performances throughout the entire
season in his BMW 125i M Sport, finished just two points behind
Britain’s Gordon Shedden. Tordoff’s JCT600 with GardX team also missed
out on the title in the Team competition by a whisker. Tordoff
finished seventh, fifth and second in the three races. Team-mate Rob
Collard (GB) came home eighth, sixth and fourth to end the season in
fifth place overall. Jack Goff (GB), who finished ninth and seventh
twice at Brands Hatch, was 11th overall.

Blancpain GT Series: Season finale for ROWE Racing in Barcelona.

The 2016 Blancpain GT Series drew to a close in Barcelona (ES) this
weekend with round five of the Sprint Cup. However, the finale at the
“Circuit de Catalunya” (ES) near Barcelona (ES) did not go
to plan for the ROWE Racing team. After Philipp Eng (AT) and Alexander
Sims (GB) had a good grid position with eighth in the qualifying race,
a poor pit stop and a drive-through penalty in Sunday’s main race
meant the duo in the number 99 BMW M6 GT3 had to settle for 24th. Nick
Catsburg (NL) and Stef Dusseldorp (NL) finished 15th in the number 98
car. Catsburg and Dusseldorp had previously fought back well from the
back of the field to finish 18th in the qualifying race. They also
lost valuable time during the pit stop. However, team principal
Hans-Peter Naundorf was positive in his appraisal of the season: “that
could have been a good end of the season for us, but unfortunately we
made a few mistakes in the race and in the pit lane, which cost us
better results. Despite this, the Blancpain GT Series 2016 season, our
first with the BMW M6 GT3, has been successful and produced an
absolute highlight, in the form of victory at the 24-hour race in Spa.”