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

Spielberg (AT), 22nd May 2016. BMW Motorsport leaves the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (AT) with two wins in two races. One day after Marco Wittmann's (DE) victory, Timo Glock (DE) was at the top of the podium. This saw BMW Team RMG become the first BMW team to celebrate two wins in one weekend since the reintroduction of the Saturday race in 2015.

Behind Glock, five other BMW drivers finished in the points on Sunday. Augusto Farfus (BR), Maxime Martin (BE), Tom Blomqvist (GB), Wittmann and Bruno Spengler (CA) finished in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth. Six BMW M4 DTMs also finished in the points on Saturday. Wittmann and Blomqvist celebrated a one-two result.

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): “That was a very strong race by Timo. We had just the right strategy against the strong competition from Audi. It proved to be a very good decision to bring Timo in for an early pit stop. Mattias Ekström came on very strong again, but in the end it was enough. It was a perfect weekend for BMW Team RMG, getting the wins in both races. My congratulations on this outstanding achievement. And well done to all the other BMW drivers who finished in the points. They all did a fantastic job. Overall I am very happy with this weekend. As is so often the case, it was worth coming to Spielberg.”

Stefan Reinhold (Team Principal BMW Team RMG): “I am speechless. Yesterday I was at the top of the podium with Marco, today with Timo. We haven't ever had a weekend like this. I am just so happy. We worked hard with both drivers over the winter, and now all of this work is paying off. I can only say a massive thanks to both of them. Marco's win on Saturday was incredible, and I am really happy to have won a race with Timo now. After all, we have known each other for such a long time. Spielberg was a dream for us.”

Ernest Knoors (Team Principal BMW Team MTEK): “It was a very good weekend here in Spielberg for BMW. For us as a team, it was a little bit more difficult on Saturday. Nevertheless, I am very happy with how the entire team reacted. The engineers made great improvements to the cars for Sunday, and the crew was in top form and completed the fastest pit stop of the race. Which is why there are plenty of reasons to look forward to the next races in Lusatia.”

Bart Mampaey (Team Principal BMW Team RBM): “We have a positive weekend all round behind us. Both drivers picked up a lot of points; Tom was on the podium for us yesterday. I am very happy. With Maxime we have picked up points in every single race so far. This consistency is fantastic. In the team standings, we are now in second place behind Stefan Reinhold's team, so I don't have much to complain about.”

Charly Lamm (Team Principal BMW Team Schnitzer): “We experienced highs and lows at our home event. Martin's fifth place yesterday after a good result in qualifying was really strong, and it was fantastic to see António on the front row of the grid today. He only narrowly missed out on the pole position. Naturally, it is very disappointing that we finished today's race in 19th and 21st. It's a great shame for the team, who worked so hard. António was battling for the podium, and Martin was doing well, despite starting from further down the field. He might have even been able to pick up points. But the incident set both of them back.”

Timo Glock (BMW Team RMG, Sun.: 1st place, Sat.: 4th place): “This race was a dream. It couldn't have gone any better. I was able to pull away on the initial laps and then assert my lead after that. After the minor error in qualifying and the misfortune in Hockenheim, this was very satisfying, and BMW Team RMG had a perfect weekend with the wins for Marco and me. This makes me really happy. In general, it was a magnificent weekend for BMW.”

Augusto Farfus (BMW Team MTEK, Sun.: 4th place, Sat.: 9th place): “I am very happy with the outcome of this race. You have to take into account how we started this weekend. We had to make up a lot of ground in terms of the set-up, and the team did a great job with that. My car was much better today. The important thing is to pick up points consistently. That seems to be working well so far.”

Maxime Martin (BMW Team RBM, Sun.: 5th place, Sat.: 6th place): “In terms of pace, we might have been able to do even better here in Spielberg. But when all is said and done, we picked up a lot of points. So far I have finished in the points in all four races this year. This consistency is of great value. Naturally I will try to keep this up at the Lausitzring.”

Tom Blomqvist (BMW Team RBM, Sun.: 6th place, Sat.: 2nd place): “From eighth on the grid, I moved up the field in the race - and that is always positive. It was really close again today, and on top of that it was hot. The car was good, but it is not easy to stay close to the car in front and overtake. At the end of the day, sixth place is totally fine. BMW really did have a superb weekend here.”

Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG, Sun.: 7th place, Sat.: 1st place): “Unfortunately I had a technical problem in the second race, so I was fighting with blunt weapons. It was very disappointing; I couldn't do better than P7. Nevertheless, it was a fabulous weekend overall for our team.”

Bruno Spengler (BMW Team MTEK, Sun.: 9th place, Sat.: 13th place): “Overall it wasn't a particularly great weekend for me personally. The two wins for BMW were definitely positive. Congratulations to Timo on his win today too. But things didn't go so well for us. Qualifying today was better than on Saturday. We made progress together with the entire team, but then we weren't fast enough in the race and had to battle constantly. Now we will examine why we didn't have the optimum balance.”

Martin Tomczyk (BMW Team Schnitzer, Sun.: 19th place, Sat.: 5th place): “My race was okay until the pit stop. Our strategy was right from my perspective, and I was just outside the top ten. Then there was an incident that cost me a lot of places. Despite that, we can take a lot of positives away with us, particularly from Saturday.”

António Félix da Costa (BMW Team Schnitzer, Sun.: 21st place, Sat.: 22nd place): “I will have to take a look at the footage in detail, but from my perspective I was clearly ahead in the incident with Edoardo Mortara, and it should have been my corner. I used DRS and was faster. He should have held back, but it can't be changed. I feel sorry for the team. This saw us miss out on an opportunity, and that doesn't feel good.”

DTM standings.

Drivers’ Championship.

1. 1. Paul di Resta (43 points), 2. Edoardo Mortara (40), 3. Timo Glock (37), 4. Maxime Martin (37), 5. Marco Wittmann (35), 6. Tom Blomqvist (34), 7. Augusto Farfus (32), 8. Robert Wickens (28), 9. Nico Müller (22), 10. Mattias Ekström (20), 11. Jamie Green (15), 12. Gary Paffett (12), 13. Martin Tomczyk (12), 14. Christian Vietoris (10), 15. Bruno Spengler (10), 16. António Félix da Costa (6), 17. Mike Rockenfeller (5), 18. Adrien Tambay (4), 19. Miguel Molina (1), 20. Timo Scheider (0), 21. Maximilian Götz (0), 22. Daniel Juncadella (0), 23. Lucas Auer (0), 24. Esteban Ocon (0).  

  Team Championship.

1. BMW Team RMG (72 points), 2. BMW Team RBM (71), 3. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (60), 4. Mercedes-AMG (43), 5. BMW Team MTEK (42), 6. SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS invest Mercedes-AMG (28), 7. Audi Sport Team Abt (23), 8. Audi Sport Team Rosberg (19), 9. BMW Team Schnitzer (18), 10. EURONICS/FREEMEN`S WORLDMercedes-AMG (12), 11. BWT Mercedes-AMG (10), 12. Audi Sport Team Phoenix (6).   

Manufacturers’ Championship.

1. BMW (203 points), 2. Audi (108), 3. Mercedes-Benz (93).

Statistics for the BMW DTM drivers.

2016 race calendar.

6th -8th May – Hockenheim (DE), 20 th -22 nd May – Spielberg (AT), 3rd -5th June – Lausitzring (DE), 24th -26th 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
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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