Spa-Francorchamps. The 2018 FIA World Endurance Championship
(WEC) is officially underway for BMW Team MTEK and the new BMW M8
GTE. In the opening race in Spa-Francorchamps (BEL), the number 82
car with António Félix da Costa (POR) and Tom Blomqvist (GBR) at the
wheel finished fifth in the GTE Pro class. Their team-mates, Martin
Tomczyk (GER) and Nick Catsburg (NED) had to make do with eighth
after losing time during a pit stop in the early stages of the
six-hour race due to no fault of their own.
Reactions to The Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps:
Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director):
“The new BMW M8 GTE has passed its baptism of fire in its maiden
FIA World Endurance Championship race in Spa-Francorchamps. The
interest in our WEC debut and in our new car was huge. It was great to
see how we were welcomed by the fans and the series as a whole. Fifth
for our number 82 is a solid start. The second car lost time during an
early pit stop, due to no fault of the team, when the safety car was
deployed at the very same time. With the experience from this race
under our belts, we will now put our full focus on the 24 Hours of Le
Mans. This will be a truly special spectacle, which were are looking
forward to excitedly.”
Ernest Knoors (Team Principal BMW Team MTEK):
“I think it’s a weekend with positives and negatives, but that’s
to be expected in our Championship debut. The positive is that we got
two cars to the finish with good results and with no issues. The
Munich-based team did a very good job to get the cars here and so well
prepared, and the team here at Spa this weekend did a great job
throughout. There is a lot to learn but we’re off the mark to a good start.”
António Félix da Costa (#82 BMW M8 GTE, fifth place):
“I’m really happy with that for our first time out. We learned a
lot and turned it into a good result. It was the first WEC race for
both Tom and I and we were competitive around many experienced
Championship drivers.”
Tom Blomqvist (#82 BMW M8 GTE, fifth place):
“We have to be happy with that result in our WEC debut. We
weren’t as quick as the Ford and Porsche, even the Ferrari, so fifth
was the best we could have hoped for. I’m happy with my personal
performance – my pace in qualifying and the race was good and I feel
António and I got the most out of the race.”
Nick Catsburg (#81 BMW M8 GTE, eighth place):
“Today was a good learning experience for the team and for us
drivers. It was great to get our debut WEC race ‘under our belt’, as
this race gave us a lot of time of time to prepare under race
conditions, but we leave knowing there are some areas to work on ahead
of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is only a month away.”
Martin Tomczyk (#81 BMW M8 GTE, eighth place):
“The first race is over and there are a few things to take away
now we have put things into practice but I’m confident BMW Team MTEK
will make sure that we improve ahead of Le Mans. The BMW M8 GTE ran
without issues and that’s the main thing.”
Next race of the BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend:
The second race of the DTM season in Hockenheim (GER) will go
green on Sunday at 13:30hrs.