Reactions to the 17th race of the 2015 DTM season.

Hockenheim (DE), 17th October 2015. BMW Motorsport extended its lead in the DTM Manufacturers’ Championship after 17 of the season’s 18 races, thanks to a fine third place from Maxime Martin (BE), and sixth and seventh for Marco Wittmann (DE) and Tom Blomqvist (GB) in Hockenheim (DE). With 583 points to its name, BMW now leads Audi by 56 points going into Sunday’s final race. Mercedes is 63 points back. Pascal Wehrlein (DE, Mercedes) secured the title in the Drivers’ Championship, succeeding Wittmann.

Read here what BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt and the eight BMW DTM drivers had to say after the 17th race of the season at the Hockenheimring.

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “That was an extremely eventful race. There were an incredible number of incidents. I am sure that was entertaining for the spectators. At the pit wall, however, you would prefer a quieter race. Maxime Martin got off to a superb start, but was not quite able to match the leader’s pace. Despite this, he did finish a fine third. Marco Wittmann had a great race and was able to climb from 16th to finish sixth. Tom Blomqvist also scored good points, while a damaged front splitter caused António Félix da Costa to drop back through the field late on, when he was on course for a points finish. We still have a big goal for tomorrow: to defend the lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Like today, we will do everything in our power to achieve that goal. Congratulations to Pascal Wehrlein on winning the Drivers’ Championship.”

Maxime Martin (BMW Team RMG, 3rd place): “I am really pleased to make it onto the podium here at the finale. You obviously want to win the race when you start from pole position. However, the Audis were just a little bit too fast for me today. In the end I am happy to have scored the points for BMW Team RMG and BMW in the Manufacturers’ Championship.”

Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG, 6th place): “Unfortunately qualifying did not go well for us, but the race was a marked improvement. I came through the first lap superbly and was ultimately able to make up ten places. I did not really expect that. Because of that, it was a very good race with important points for the team and BMW. Congratulations to my successor Pascal Wehrlein. He has been the most consistent driver this season and so deserved to win the title. However, I will be back on the attack again next year.”

Tom Blomqvist (BMW Team RBM, 7th place): “I got off to a very good start and made up a lot of places. I struggled at first after the safety car phase, but then found my rhythm again and was able to hang on to seventh place and pick up some valuable points for BMW.”

António Félix da Costa (BMW Team Schnitzer, 11th place): “I was actually well on course to finish eighth, but the vibrations caused by damage to my car became stronger and stronger and I was unable to maintain my pace. It is obviously very disappointing that this prevented me from finishing in the points.”

Martin Tomczyk (BMW Team Schnitzer, 16th place): “The race started very well for me. I climbed a lot of places in the first few laps. However, I was no longer able to go with the other cars after the safety car phase and dropped back through the field. Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, we will have to analyse why that happened.”

Timo Glock (BMW Team MTEK, DNF): “I made a very bad start and dropped well back through the field. It was obviously tough after that, and I kept getting caught up in battles for position. Then, to make matters worse, Edoardo Mortara spun me. I continued after that, but had braking issues. That was why I eventually skidded off into a gravel bed.”

Bruno Spengler (BMW Team MTEK, DNF): “There is not a lot to say about the race. I was penalised for what I believe was a normal racing incident. There were a lot of incidents in this race that were not punished, but mine was. But, that is life. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Augusto Farfus (BMW Team RBM, DNF): “A number of drivers went over the top today. There were simply too many collisions and crashes. I had a fantastic start, but was then hit from behind. When Gary Paffett crashed in front of me, I had nowhere to go. I hit him, and that was the end of my race. The performance of my car was actually pretty good. That is encouraging for Sunday.”

DTM standings.

Drivers’ Championship.

1. Pascal Wehrlein (169 points), 2. Mattias Ekström (129), 3. Edoardo Mortara (128), 4. Jamie Green (125), 5. Bruno Spengler (119), 6. Marco Wittmann (112), 7. Gary Paffett (87), 8. Maxime Martin (86), 9. Mike Rockenfeller (83), 10. Paul di Resta (78), 11. Augusto Farfus (77), 12. António Félix da Costa (73), 13. Robert Wickens (61), 14. Tom Blomqvist (59), 15. Timo Glock (56), 16. Christian Vietoris (56), 17. Miguel Molina (54), 18. Timo Scheider (41), 19. Martin Tomczyk (26), 20. Daniel Juncadella (26), 21. Nico Müller (26), 22. Maximilian Götz (25), 23. Lucas Auer (18), 24. Adrien Tambay (3).

Team Championship.

1. gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG (225 Punkte), 2. BMW Team RMG (198), 3. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (183), 4. BMW Team MTEK (175), 5. Audi Sport Team Rosberg (151), 6. SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG (139), 7. BMW Team RBM (136), 8. Audi Sport Team Abt (131), 9. Audi Sport Team Phoenix (124), 10. EURONICS/BWT Mercedes-AMG (105), 11. BMW Team Schnitzer (99), 12. PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG (51).

Manufacturers’ Championship.

1. BMW (583 points), 2. Audi (527), 3. Mercedes-Benz (520).

Statistics for the BMW DTM drivers.

2015 race calendar.

1st-3rd May – Hockenheim (DE), 29th-31st May – Lausitzring (DE), 26th-28th June – Norisring (DE), 10th-12th July – Zandvoort (NL), 31st July-2nd August – Spielberg (AT), 28th-30th August – Moscow (RU), 11th-13th September – Oschersleben (DE), 25th-27th September – Nürburgring (DE), 16th-18th October – Hockenheim (DE).

More information:
You can find the latest BMW Motorsport media information, DTM press kit, and copyright-free images for editorial purposes online at www.press.bmwgroup-sport.com.

Website: bmw-motorsport.com
Facebook: facebook.com/bmwmotorsport
YouTube: youtube.com/bmwmotorsport
Twitter: twitter.com/bmwmotorsport
Google+: plus.google.com/+bmwmotorsport