PressClub Global · Article.
BMW Motorsport News – Issue 40/14.
Sun Nov 02 22:36:34 CET 2014 Press Release
Archive
Baku hosts season finale in the Blancpain Sprint Series – Bruno Spengler turns driving instructor, while Martin Tomczyk makes guest truck racing appearance.
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Whether in the DTM, the United 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.
BSS: Season finale on the streets of Baku.
The final round of the Blancpain Sprint Series was held against an imposing backdrop this weekend: on a street circuit in Baku (AZ), right on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Among those in action were four BMW teams, with a total of six BMW Z4 GT3s: ROAL Motorsport, BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert, BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil and Triple 888 Racing. Saturday was extremely promising for the BMW teams and drivers. BMW works driver Alessandro Zanardi (IT) clocked the fastest time in the first practice session at the wheel of the ROAL Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3. He was then second fastest in the second practice. BMW works drivers Jens Klingmann (DE) and Dominik Baumann (AT) then set a series of excellent times in the BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert car in qualifying. However, they were not rewarded for their strong performance on Sunday. Several BMW Z4 GT3s were involved in crashes in the morning’s qualifying race. Zanardi was hit from behind by another driver and forced into the wall. The damage caused to his BMW Z4 GT3 was so severe that it was unable to compete in the main race. Baumann also crashed out through no fault of his own. The Schubert team managed to get the BMW Z4 GT3 up and running in time for the main race, but the extent of the damage was such that Baumann and Klingmann had no option but to retire. The best-placed BMW was the BMW Z4 GT3 of Ricardo and Rodrigo Sperafico (both BR) of BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil, who came home tenth and ninth respectively in the two races. Their team-mates Matheus Stumpf and Miguel Paludo (both BR) failed to finish both races. Stefano Colombo and David Fumanelli (both IT / ROAL Motorsport) also crashed out in the qualifying race, but finished 14 th in the main race. This meant they ended the season in second place in the Silver Cup competition. Joe Osborne and Ryan Ratcliffe (both GB) climbed from 17 th to 13 th in the BMW Z4 GT3 fielded by Triple 888 Racing.
The final round of the Blancpain Sprint Series was held against an imposing backdrop this weekend: on a street circuit in Baku (AZ), right on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Among those in action were four BMW teams, with a total of six BMW Z4 GT3s: ROAL Motorsport, BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert, BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil and Triple 888 Racing. Saturday was extremely promising for the BMW teams and drivers. BMW works driver Alessandro Zanardi (IT) clocked the fastest time in the first practice session at the wheel of the ROAL Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3. He was then second fastest in the second practice. BMW works drivers Jens Klingmann (DE) and Dominik Baumann (AT) then set a series of excellent times in the BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert car in qualifying. However, they were not rewarded for their strong performance on Sunday. Several BMW Z4 GT3s were involved in crashes in the morning’s qualifying race. Zanardi was hit from behind by another driver and forced into the wall. The damage caused to his BMW Z4 GT3 was so severe that it was unable to compete in the main race. Baumann also crashed out through no fault of his own. The Schubert team managed to get the BMW Z4 GT3 up and running in time for the main race, but the extent of the damage was such that Baumann and Klingmann had no option but to retire. The best-placed BMW was the BMW Z4 GT3 of Ricardo and Rodrigo Sperafico (both BR) of BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil, who came home tenth and ninth respectively in the two races. Their team-mates Matheus Stumpf and Miguel Paludo (both BR) failed to finish both races. Stefano Colombo and David Fumanelli (both IT / ROAL Motorsport) also crashed out in the qualifying race, but finished 14 th in the main race. This meant they ended the season in second place in the Silver Cup competition. Joe Osborne and Ryan Ratcliffe (both GB) climbed from 17 th to 13 th in the BMW Z4 GT3 fielded by Triple 888 Racing.
Three questions for … Alessandro Zanardi.
Alessandro, the season finale started so well with P1 in
free practice one and also your qualifying race was great –
but unfortunately then your weekend came to an early end. How
are your emotions?
Alessandro Zanardi: “Normally you name something
‘bitter-sweet’, but in this case it was sweet-bitter. It was very
unfortunate that my race day was over after another car had put me
into the wall in the qualifying race. I had a great car underneath
me and I was very confident that I could improve my position. I
was moving forward, so it is a real pity - but after all: that’s
racing. I am happier to go home having enjoyed a weekend with some
very nice highs. In the first free practice I was fastest and I
was P2 in the second practice. In qualifying I had some problems
braking with my prosthetic leg, otherwise I could have
comfortably been in the top six. And I was making progress with
good speed in the race. All this tells me that our hard work is
paying off and that, at the age of 48, I am still able to compete
with this group of young and talented drivers. I am very proud of
the trust that BMW puts in me. I wish I could have paid everybody
at BMW Motorsport back with a better result, but bad luck is part
of a sportsman’s career. There are times when it helps you and
there are times when it is against you. And today was definitely
one of these days.”
How did you like the street circuit at Baku?
Zanardi: “The circuit is like all street circuits - quite a
challenge - but I really enjoyed it from the word ‘go’. Agility is
one of our strengths and I had a great car to fly over the kerbs
and to cut through the chicanes and have a lot of fun. It is a
circuit that reminds me a lot of all the tracks in Indy cars –
back in the old days when I was young.”
How would you sum up your comeback season?
Zanardi: “First of all, I felt very welcome in the Blancpain
Sprint Series. We had some really strong race weekends, and with
some better luck we would have got some much better results than
we had. We often proved that we have a competitive car. At Brands
Hatch, we were able to take advantage of it and scored a good
fifth-place finish. Unfortunately at the Slovakiaring and here we
were not able to convert the strong performance of our BMW Z4 GT3
into the corresponding results, as we were scuppered by other
people’s mistakes.”
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“Drive like Bruno”: Spengler the driving instructor.
Even at the end of the 2014 DTM season, you will not
catch Bruno Spengler (CA) taking a break. Two
weeks after the tenth and final
round at the Hockenheimring (DE), the BMW
Team Schnitzer driver returned to
the scene of the finale of the touring
car series. At a very special driving event – the second
of its kind, after an identical event at the Sachsenring
(DE) at the start of October – the Canadian
introduced the winners of the BMW Bank
competition “Drive like Bruno” to the joys
of motor racing, and showed them the
meaning of truly dynamic driving. Spengler
was on hand on the safety course to offer the BMW
fans visual instructions and tips on how to keep
their car perfectly under control, even in the
most difficult situations. The 2012
DTM champion then joined the winners on the
racetrack with the new BMW M4.
Spengler drifted round the corners and, to the joy
of the BMW fans, pulled countless donuts. “I obviously
got the tyres smoking. It would have
been wrong not to,” said Spengler.
“Otherwise, the promotion would not be
called ‘Drive like Bruno’.” Another highlight
for the winners was the opportunity
to demonstrate their racing skills at the
wheel of the Formula BMW FB02 racing
car in the Formula BMW Racing Experience. “The
event was great fun. It was awesome to meet the BMW fans
and to give them so much pleasure
with this promotion,” said Spengler.
“I saw a lot of laughing going on. We all
had a fantastic time together.”
DTM: Martin Tomczyk makes guest truck racing appearance.
DTM: Martin Tomczyk makes guest truck racing appearance.
BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) was in action
at the Lausitzring (DE) this weekend. He
swapped his BMW M Performance Parts
M4 DTM for a racing truck and set about
completing over 30 laps at the wheel of the
5.5-ton vehicle, which generates 1,200 hp.
Tomczyk was invited to the test by the
internationally successful Reinert
Racing team, and was impressed by his outing in
a considerably higher weight class. “That was a
fantastic experience,” said Tomczyk. After
receiving brief instructions, he was
then allowed behind the wheel and was
particularly impressed by the powerful torque
and the truck’s braking. When you consider
how heavy it is, the deceleration when
braking is really remarkable. You
obviously can’t compare the feeling behind
the wheel with that of a DTM car, but I am very
grateful to the Reinert Racing team for offering
me the opportunity to enjoy a
completely new driving experience.”