BMW Motorsport News – Issue 15/15.

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.

Nürburgring 24 Hours: start list published for highlight of season.

The countdown is on: it is now just three weeks (16th/17th May) until the highlight of the endurance season at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE), in the form of the iconic 24-hour race. As it does every year, the starting grid will feature a large contingent of BMW racing cars. In the SP9 class for GT3 cars, a total of six BMW Z4 GT3s will be in action. BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert and BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS will both field two BMW Z4 GT3s. Dirk Werner (DE), Dirk Müller (DE), Alexander Sims (GB) and DTM champion Marco Wittmann (DE) will compete in BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert’s number 19 BMW Z4 GT3. The second BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert car – number 20 – will be driven by Jens Klingmann (DE), Dominik Baumann (AT), Claudia Hürtgen (DE) and BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE). This quartet was victorious a fortnight ago at the six-hour qualifying race for the 24 Hours on the Nordschleife.

At the wheel of the number 25 BMW Z4 GT3 of BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS will be BMW DTM driver Maxime Martin (BE), Lucas Luhr (DE), Markus Palttala (FI) and Richard Westbrook (GB). The number 26 BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS car also boasts a strong squad of drivers in Jörg Müller (DE), Nick Catsburg (NL), Dirk Adorf (DE) and Augusto Farfus (BR) from the DTM.

Walkenhorst Motorsport will field a further two BMW Z4 GT3s: John Edwards (US), Michela Cerruti (IT), Felipe Laser (DE) and Ferdinand Stuck (DE) will drive the number 17 car. The second car, number 18, will be shared by team principal Henry Walkenhorst (DE), Ralf Oeverhaus (DE), Christian Bollrath (DE) and Stefan Aust (DE). In addition, more than 40 other BMW racing cars will compete in the various classes in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Fifteen cars have registered for the BMW M235i Racing Cup, the Cup 5 class. As it did last year, the BMW M235i Racing media car will compete again in 2015. This will be run by BMW Motorsport in cooperation with Walkenhorst Motorsport. It will be driven by BMW Motorsport Junior Victor Bouveng (SE) and Harald Grohs (DE), together with motorsport journalists Bernd Ostmann (DE) and Christian Gebhardt (DE).

DTM: BMW Motorsport press kit available now.

To put you in the perfect mood for the opening round of the DTM in Hockenheim (DE) next weekend, the BMW Motorsport DTM press kit for the 2015 season is now available to download. It contains a lot of useful information on drivers, teams, circuits and the BMW M4 DTM.

You can download the press kit in the BMW Group PressClub Sport. To do so, simply click here.

ADAC GT Masters: four top-ten results for Schubert Motorsport.

The teams in the ADAC GT Masters kicked off the 2015 season this weekend with two races at the “Motorsport Arena Oschersleben” (DE). Among them were Schubert Motorsport and Senkyr Motorsport, who fielded three BMW Z4 GT3s between them. Schubert drivers Dominik Baumann (AT) and Jens Klingmann (DE) finished fifth in the opening race, making them the best-placed BMW drivers. Their team-mates Claudia Hürtgen (DE) and BMW Motorsport Junior Jesse Krohn (FI) came home sixth. The Senkyr duo of Jakub Knoll (CZ) and Lennart Marioneck (DE) crossed the finish line in 14th. Sunday’s second race saw Hürtgen and Krohn finish fifth, with Baumann and Klingmann seventh. The Senkyr Motorsport drivers failed to finish. “Firstly, I would like to thank Schubert Motorsport for the opportunity to drive here,” said Krohn. “We improved consistently over the course of the weekend. To finish fifth from 13th on the grid in race two was a great reward. All in all, it was a good weekend.”