BMW Motorsport News - Issue 35/2018.

Whether in the DTM, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the IMSA WeatherTech 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.

DTM: BMW Startup Garage is Official Partner of BMW M Motorsport at Hockenheim.

When the six BMW M4 DTMs take to the track at the DTM finale at Hockenheim (GER), BMW Startup Garage will be involved as BMW M Motorsport’s Official Partner. The BMW Group’s start-up company’s logo will be prominently positioned on the cars’ wheel arches and in the team garages. “We are pleased to have BMW Startup Garage on board as Official Partner at such a special event as the DTM season finale,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “BMW Motorsport is all about innovation. BMW Startup Garage promotes exactly this pioneering spirit by offering start-up companies in the field of innovative mobility technologies and products the opportunity to work closely with the BMW Group. Motor racing provides the perfect platform to test innovations in small batches and under the most extreme conditions. For this reason, I would be delighted to see even more start-ups with a specific focus on motorsport apply at the BMW Startup Garage after the Hockenheim races.”

Collaboration with start-ups is becoming increasingly important for large companies. For this reason, the BMW Group formed BMW Startup Garage in 2015. Its task is to maximise the potential of particularly innovative start-ups, the products of which are directly usable by the BMW Group. BMW Startup Garage contacts start-up companies that offer innovative technologies, products or services. The focus is on contributing to the further development of the BMW Group. BMW Startup Garage then offers these start-ups the opportunity to test their developments in BMW cars or in other technical areas within the BMW Group, and to optimise those developments with the help of the BMW infrastructure and feedback from BMW engineers. The bar is so high at an innovation and technology leader like the BMW Group that it can significantly accelerate the development of start-up innovations into marketable commodities. On Monday, BMW Startup Garage organised a networking event for representatives of top start-ups and the BMW Group at “Bits & Pretzels” in Munich (GER), one of the most important start-up conferences in the world. Among those present was Jens Marquardt as “Key Note Speaker”.

VLN: Walkenhorst Motorsport finishes third in the BMW M6 GT3.

The penultimate race of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring (GER) finished with a podium for the Walkenhorst Motorsport #35 BMW M6 GT3 on Saturday. Jonathan Hirschi (SUI), Jordan Tresson (FRA) and Hunter Abbott (GBR) celebrated third place in the overall standings after four hours of racing. The sister 36 car crossed the finish line in eleventh place overall, and saw them finish second in the SP9 PRE class. BMW Team Schnitzer started the race from pole position with its BMW M6 GT3 and BMW works driver Augusto Farfus (BRA) at the wheel, but was forced to retire. Victory in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class went to David Griessner (AUT) and Yannick Fübrich (GER) of Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport. They prevailed over Team Hofor Racing powered by Bonk Motorsport’s Michael Schrey and Marc Ehret (both GER), and Team FK Performance’s Juha Hannonen (FIN) and Patrick Hinte (GER). First place in the V2 class went to Thomas Reiner and Manfred Schmitz (both GER) in their BMW 318iS. In the V4 class, Kevin Totz, Cedric Totz (both GER) and Torsten Kratz (AUT) of Team Securtal Sorg Rennsport were victorious in their BMW 325i. The Sorg Rennsport BMW M4 GT4 finished second in the SP10 class.

Italian GT Championship: BMW Team Italia finished on the podium at Monza.

BMW Team Italia had a successful penultimate race weekend in the Italian GT Championship. At the high-speed track in Monza (ITA), Stefano Comandini (ITA) and Max Koebolt (NED) in the #15 BMW M6 GT3 finished on the podium, with third place, in the race on Saturday. On Sunday, the duo retired from the race after just a few laps.