Reactions to the fourth race weekend of the 2016 DTM season.

Norisring (DE), 26th June 2016. BMW Motorsport had a successful
weekend at the Norisring (DE) in front of a total of 123,500
spectators. Tom Blomqvist (GB) and Maxime Martin (BE) made it onto the
podium in second and third place in Sunday’s race. Marco Wittmann (DE)
picked up plenty of points for finishing fourth and sixth at his home
event, which saw him regain the lead in the drivers’ championship.
Bruno Spengler (CA) also picked up points in both races. A total of
six BMW M4 DTM finished in the top 10 on Sunday.

Read here what BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt, the four team
principals and the eight BMW DTM drivers had to say after the race weekend.

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “The fans
in the grandstands were treated to the spectacular show they have come
to expect. We did not expect to come away with such a good result:
obviously anyone starting from pole wants to win. But if anyone had
told me before the weekend that Tom Blomqvist and Maxime Martin would
finish second and third at the Norisring, I would have taken that
immediately. Compliments to both of them, as well as Bart Mampaey and
his entire team. We are very happy to have six cars in the top ten
here. It is a shame for António Félix da Costa that his impressive
performance did not get the result it deserved, and for Augusto Farfus
that his race came to a premature end on the opening lap. We want to
back this performance up when the DTM returns from its three-week
break in Zandvoort. Congratulations to Nico Müller on his win.”

Bart Mampaey (Team Principal, BMW Team RBM): “If
someone had told me that we would have both drivers on the podium
ahead of this weekend, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. The
Norisring is one of our favourite tracks, but we haven’t always been
competitive here. Having now achieved such a result with our team is
incredible. Congratulations to Nico Müller. He was faster than we were
today. Nevertheless, we can be proud of our performance. Maxime Martin
picked up points in both races again; Tom Blomqvist started from pole
and initially pulled ahead. So overall I am very, very pleased.”

Stefan Reinhold (Team Principal, BMW Team RMG): “This
weekend was perfect team-building for us. We made rigorous
preparations for the Norisring with our engineers and mechanics. We
know that we need to pick up points even on difficult weekends. Our
result clearly exceeded our expectations. The drivers did a fantastic
job and pulled their weight. Big thanks also go to BMW. We are
extremely happy right now. I’m particularly delighted that we were
able to give Marco Wittmann another successful home event here in Nürnberg.”

Ernest Knoors (Team Principal, BMW Team MTEK): “Bruno
Spengler got the maximum out of the races at the Norisring for us. He
delivered a good performance – and it was a good weekend for BMW
overall. Unfortunately, when things don’t go well for Augusto Farfus
at the moment, they really don’t go well. It is frustrating to be
knocked out on the first lap and be unable to continue the race. We
need to give him a car that enables him to qualify further up the
field. We need to be further up the field with both cars in Zandvoort.”

Charly Lamm (Team Principal, BMW Team Schnitzer): “We
just can’t get this one good lap in qualifying. Despite difficult
starting situations, both drivers did well on Saturday. At least
António Félix da Costa was able to pick up points. Then Sunday was
mixed. Qualifying went better for António in particular, but then
there were several incidents. After several hard attacking manoeuvres,
António’s car was so badly damaged that he had to retire. The ray of
hope was Martin Tomczyk: He drove an aggressive race and was rewarded
for this with a point. Congratulations to BMW Team RBM. It was
fantastic to see the Belgians on the podium in Bavaria.”

Tom Blomqvist (BMW Team RBM, Sun.: 2nd place, Sat.: 16th
place):
“All in all, I am very happy with the result. I
made it onto the podium and scored 18 valuable points. We had not
really reckoned on that going into the weekend. We even came very
close to winning, but unfortunately I lost time towards the end of my
first stint and in the pit stop. On the whole, however, my team did an
incredibly good job. I would like to thank them all.”

Maxime Martin (BMW Team RBM, Sun.: 3rd place, Sat.: 6th
place):
“I’m really happy. As a team, we did a fantastic
job. I knew I had a good chance to take some points, with the strong
grid position, and I felt really good in the race. The car had great
pace, and I have to thank the team for that; they were fantastic as
usual. To take a podium here is brilliant. Tom did a great job, and to
have six BMW in the top 10 is obviously very nice. Congratulations as
well to Nico Müller, the first win in DTM is always special.”

Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG, Sun.: 6th place, Sat.: 4th
place):
“My start wasn’t very good, but the incident
involving Mattias Ekström meant that I made it through the initial
phase in tenth place anyway. After that the pace was really good, but
you couldn’t really attack. It would have been too risky. We opted for
a slightly longer first stint. This turned out to be the right move.
After that I fought well, was able to overtake Edoardo Mortara and
then got stuck behind Lucas Auer and Paul di Resta for a long time. It
would have been too risky to get involved in this situation too. We
didn’t really expect that I would be leading the drivers’ championship
at the end of the weekend.”

Bruno Spengler (BMW Team MTEK, Sun.: 7th place, Sat.: 5th
place):
“Picking up points from 14th on the grid is okay.
We couldn’t have done any better. Qualifying was the problem once
again. I battled with the balance of my car throughout the weekend.
The positive is that I was still able to pick up points twice.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish any further up the field.
Overall, it was a really great Norisring performance for BMW. Special
thanks go to our pit crew at BMW Team MTEK. The guys did a fantastic
job. Now we are focussing on Zandvoort.”

Timo Glock (BMW Team RMG, Sun.: 9th place, Sat.: 21st place):
“It ended up being a very good day after all. We didn’t have
the right pace in qualifying, and it was difficult with the first set
of tyres in the race. Then the team made a good call and brought me in
at the right time. After that the car was really great and I was at
least able to ration the DRS a bit. The safety car phase helped me a
bit. I had a great, fair duel with Timo Scheider. Racing like that is
fun. We gave it our all – and at least came away with a few points.
From 20th on the grid to ninth: that is a good result.”

Martin Tomczyk (BMW Team Schnitzer, Sun.: 10th place, Sat.:
12th place):
“Naturally I am pleased with the catch-up race
I was able to deliver. But I only ended up with one point, which is
why I am not really happy with myself. Still, congratulations to BMW
on a weekend at the Norisring that was fantastic overall.”

António Félix da Costa (BMW Team Schnitzer, Sun.: DNF, Sat.:
9th place):
“My start was good, I was able to move up a few
places. We weren’t necessarily the fastest today, but we were
consistent; we would have been able to pick up points. Sadly, though,
it was a turbulent race. Then I was hit and spun. The car was finished
and we had to retire. We will return stronger in Zandvoort.”

Augusto Farfus (BMW Team MTEK, Sun.: DNF, Sat.: 11th place):
“We didn’t manage to find the optimum set-up for the car at
all this weekend. When you have to start from far down the field it is
very difficult on a street circuit in particular. I was on the outside
in the first turn in Sunday’s race. Then another driver moved over and
I ran out of space between me and the wall. After the contact my car
was too badly damaged, so I had to retire.”

DTM standings.

Drivers’ Championship.

  1. Marco Wittmann (75 points), 2. Edoardo Mortara (73), 3. Paul di
    Resta (70), 4. Jamie Green (63), 5. Maxime Martin (62), 6. Robert
    Wickens (58), 7. Nico Müller (52), 8. Tom Blomqvist (52), 9. Mattias
    Ekström (46), 10. Lucas Auer (41), 11. Timo Glock (40), 12. Augusto
    Farfus (32), 13. Bruno Spengler (28), 14. Christian Vietoris (27),
    15. Miguel Molina (26), 16. Gary Paffett (22), 17. Martin Tomczyk
    (13), 18. Adrien Tambay (10), 19. António Félix da Costa (8), 20.
    Mike Rockenfeller (5), 21. Maximilian Götz (4), 22. Timo Scheider
    (1), 23. Daniel Juncadella (0), 24. Esteban Ocon (0).

Team Championship.

  1. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (119 points), 2. BMW Team RMG
    (115), 3. BMW Team RBM (114), 4. Audi Sport Team Abt (78), 5.
    Mercedes-AMG (74), 6. Audi Sport Team Rosberg (73), 7. BWT
    Mercedes-AMG (68), 8. BMW Team MTEK (60), 9. SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS
    invest Mercedes-AMG (58), 10. EURONICS/FREEMEN`S WORLDMercedes-AMG
    (22), 11. BMW Team Schnitzer (21), 12. Audi Sport Team Phoenix (6).

Manufacturers’ Championship.

  1. BMW (310 points), 2. Audi (276), 3. Mercedes-Benz (222).

 

Statistics for the BMW DTM drivers.

 

 

 

2016 race calendar.

6th -8th May – Hockenheim (DE), 20th -22nd May – Spielberg (AT), 3rd
-5th June – Lausitzring (DE), 24
th
-26
th
June – Norisring (DE), 15th -17th July – Zandvoort
(NL), 19th -21st August – Moscow (RU), 9th -11th September –
Nürburgring (DE), 23rd -25th September – Budapest (HU), 14th -16th
October – Hockenheim (DE).

 

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

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/bmwmotorsport

Instagram:
www.instagram.com/bmwmotorsport

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/bmwmotorsport

Twitter:
www.twitter.com/bmwmotorsport

Google+:
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