BMW Motorsport News – Issue 31/14.

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.

British GT: Marco Attard still at the top after finishing fourth at Brands Hatch.
Marco Attard (GB) and Alexander Sims (GB) finished fourth in the penultimate race of the British GT Championship in Brands Hatch (GB) and in doing so have defended Attard's lead in the drivers' standings and Ecurie Ecosse's lead in the team standings. Going into the final race, Attard has 148.5 points in the drivers' standings, his team-mate Sims is in second with 129.5 points. At Brands Hatch Sims steered the number 79 BMW Z4 GT3 into fourth place after a strong finish. The Triple Eight team with the number 88 BMW Z4 GT3 also picked up points, finishing in tenth.

Japanese Super GT: BMW Z4 GT3 wins 1000 km Suzuka – Farfus third.
The tradition-steeped 1000 km Suzuka (JP) was a resounding success for the BMW Sports Trophy teams. The victory at the highlight of the Japanese Super GT Championship season in the GT300 class went to the BMW Z4 GT3 of the TWS LM corsa team. The drivers Akira Iida (JP), Hiroki Yoshimoto (JP), and Shinya Sato (JP) were a lap ahead of the second-placed Toyota after 160 laps. BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie secured the third spot on the podium. The two regular drivers Jörg Müller (DE) and Seiji Ara (JP) were supported by BMW DTM driver Augusto Farfus (BR) this weekend and, thanks to the points for third place, are still in the running for the championship with two races to go until the end of the season. The same is true of Nobuteru Taniguchi (JP) and Tatsuya Kataoka (JP) from Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO. Fifth place in their BMW Z4 GT3 even saw them take the lead in the drivers' standings once again with 56 points.

ADAC GT Masters: Team Schubert scores points at the Nürburgring.
Team Schubert experienced a difficult sixth race weekend in the ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring (DE). In changeable weather conditions the team from Oschersleben (DE) had one vehicle finish in the points in each of the two races. On Saturday Dominik Baumann (AT) and Claudia Hürtgen (DE) caught up well, despite 15 kilos of additional weight due to a Balance of Performance adjustment and 10 kilos of extra weight due to success. The number 19 BMW Z4 GT3 started in 14th and crossed the finish line in ninth. Jens Klingmann (DE) and Max Sandritter (DE) started the race in 24th after an accident in the free practice session and also worked their way up the field. However they didn't pick up any points for 12th. The second race on Sunday went much better for Klingmann and Sandritter. They finished fifth in extremely difficult weather conditions and made sure that Team Schubert was narrowly able to retain its lead in the team standings with 168 points. Baumann and Hürtgen were unlucky in the race on Sunday and didn't pick up any points, finishing in 15th. In the drivers' standings they are in third place, 19 points off the top.

Asian Le Mans Series: AAI Rstrda wins second race of the season in Fuji.
Jun San Chen (TW), Tatsuya Tanigawa (JP) and Carlo van Dam (NL) won the second race in the GT class of the Asian Le Mans Series in Fuji (JP) in the BMW Z4 GT3 of the AAI Rstrda team. In the number 91 car they asserted themselves against their rivals, Mercedes and Nissan, after three hours of racing. In the first race in Inje (KR), Chen and Tanigawa finished in third.