BMW Motorsport News

Whether in the DTM, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship, the ABB FIA Formula E 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. 

 

Customer racing: Successful endurance test for new BMW
entry-level model.

The new BMW M Motorsport customer car based on the BMW M2 Competition
(combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 10.0–9.8*; combined CO2
emissions in g/km: 227–224*) completed its first test in race
conditions at the ROWE 6 Hours ADAC Ruhr Cup race at the
Nürburgring-Nordschleife (GER). The car completed 28 laps on the
toughest racetrack in the world and provided BMW M Motorsport
engineers with valuable insights for further developments in the
coming months. BMW Motorsport Junior Beitske Visser (NED) and Jörg
Weidinger (GER) took it in turns at the wheel of the new BMW
entry-level model, due to be delivered to customers from the second
quarter of 2020. “From my perspective, the test went very well,” said
Weidinger. “During this kind of test drive in race conditions, you
gain experience that you can’t get in private tests. Driving in
traffic, starting, overtaking, yellow flags – you can only experience
all that in a real race. The new car made a very good impression in
terms of both performance and durability.” Visser said: “The race
result wasn’t important to us today. It was all about the test
results. In that respect, it was a very good day, and for me
personally, because it’s been a while since I last raced on the
Nordschleife. It was so much fun driving the new car.” 

 

Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia: Early title win for BMW
Team Studie.

It was the culmination of a perfect season: victory in the second
race at the “Korea International Circuit” (KOR) saw Takayuki Kinoshita
and Sunako Jukuchou (both JPN) clinch the GT4 driver’s title in the
Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia before the final race of the season.
After 25 laps on the track in Yeongam, South Korea, they were first to
cross the finish line in the BMW Team Studie #81 BMW M4 GT4. In the
first race of the weekend, the duo finished in fourth place. Ahead of
the final two races of the season at the “Shanghai International
Circuit” (CHN), Kinoshita and Jukuchou are in an unassailable position
at the top of the drivers’ standings with 206 points. The pairing has
won six of the ten GT class races in the Blancpain GT World Challenge
Asia to date.

 

VLN: Three BMW M6 GT3 in the top ten. 

The fifth race weekend of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring
(GER) marked the highlight of the season. In the ROWE 6 Hours ADAC
Ruhr Cup race, three BMW M6 GT3s made it into the top ten in the
overall standings. The #99 ROWE Racing car only just missed out on a
podium finish. BMW works drivers Philipp Eng (AUT) and Nick Catsburg
(NED) took it in turns at the wheel. Fifth place went to the #34 BMW
M6 GT3 of Walkenhorst Motorsport with Christian Krognes (NOR), David
Pittard and Jody Fannin (both GBR) at the wheel. BMW works drivers
Jens Klingmann (GER) and Stef Dusseldorp (NED) finished in seventh
place for Falken Motorsports. In the SP10 class, the BMW M4 GT4
celebrated an impressive top-four lockout. First place went to BMW
Motorsport Junior Erik Johansson (SWE) and Heiko Eichenberg (GER) of
Team AVIA Sorg Rennsport. Behind them were the BMW M4 GT4s of Ring
Racing with Novel Racing, Walkenhorst Motorsport and Leutheuser
RacingEvents. In the V4 class, reigning VLN champions and BMW
Sports Trophy winners Danny Brink, Philipp Leisen and Christopher Rink
(all GER) were victorious in the Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport BMW
325i. BMW teams celebrated further successes in the V2 and SP5
classes. Ahead of the race, marking his 50thyear in
motorsport, Nordschleife legend Johannes Scheid (GER) completed a demo
lap in the BMW M3 GTR S, with which he celebrated two overall wins and
four class wins in the VLN and one fifth place in the 24-hour race at
the Nürburgring between 2003 and 2009.

 

BMW M240i Racing Cup: Griessner/Fübrich unstoppable. 

The reigning champions were the measure of all things once again in
the fifth round of the BMW M240i Racing Cup in the VLN Endurance
Championship Nürburgring (GER). After six hours, David Griessner (AUT)
and Yannick Fübrich (GER) were the first to cross the finish line and
claim their fourth win of the season. This also sees the Pixum Team
Adrenalin Motorsport duo remain firmly in the lead in the overall
standings. Sintre Setsaas, Inge Hansesaetre (both NOR) and Moritz
Oberheim (GER) of Team AVIA Sorg Rennsport finished in second place.
Nico Otto, Lars Peucker and Florian Naumann (all GER) of Team
Scheid-Honert Motorsport finished third.

 

After five races of the season, Fübrich and Griessner lead the VLN
overall standings with 38.85 points. 1.03 points behind are their
Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport teammates Norbert Fischer (GER), Oskar
Sandberg (NOR) and Daniel Zils (GER).

 

BTCC: West Surrey Racing celebrate tenth win of the season.

Colin Turkington (GBR) and West Surrey Racing have reached another
milestone in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). The reigning
champions won the second race of the Snetterton weekend, and in doing
so celebrated the team’s 200th podium in the BTCC. It was also West
Surrey Racing’s tenth victory of 2019. This is the most wins that the
team from Sunbury-on-Thames (GBR) has ever celebrated during one
season, with four events remaining. In the closing third race of the
weekend, Turkington and the BMW 330i M Sport finished in tenth place.
Turkington leads the driver’s standings in the BTCC with 235 points,
with team-mate Andrew Jordan (GBR) behind him in second place with 199
points. He finished in fifth, third and sixth place in the three races
at Brands Hatch. In the third BMW 330i M Sport fielded by Team West
Surrey Racing, Tom Oliphant (GBR) finished in 16th and eleventh place,
and retired from race three. The next races in the BTCC will be held
at Thruxton on 18th August.

 

British GT Championship: BMW M6 GT3 in third place. 

The Century Motorsport team celebrated podium success in the
penultimate round of the British GT Championship at Brands Hatch
(GBR). Angus Fender and Jack Mitchell (both GBR) crossed the finish
line in third place in the #9 BMW M6 GT3 after 74 laps. They started
the race from fifth on the grid. The third place also saw them win the
Silver Cup class. It was Fender’s first ever race in the BMW M6 GT3.
He was previously in action in the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4. In
the GT4 class, team principal Nathan Freke and Andrew
Gordon-Colebrooke (both GBR) crossed the finish line in fifth place.

 

* All figures relating to performance, fuel/electric power
consumption, CO2 emissions and operating range are provisional.

 

The fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, electric power consumption and
operating range figures are determined according to the European
Regulation (EC) 715/2007 in the version applicable. The figures refer
to a vehicle with basic configuration in Germany. The range shown
considers the different sizes of the selected wheels/tyres and the
selected items of optional equipment, and may vary during configuration.

 

The values are based on the new WLTP test cycle and are translated
back into NEDC-equivalent values in order to ensure comparability
between the vehicles. With respect to these vehicles, for
vehicle-related taxes or other duties based (at least inter alia) on
CO2 emissions, the CO2 values may differ from the values stated here
(depending on national legislation).

 

More information about official fuel consumption figures and the
official specific CO2 emissions of new passenger cars can be obtained
from the “guideline on fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and
current consumption of new passenger cars”, available here: https://www.dat.de/co2/.