PressClub Greece · Article.
BMW Motorsport News – Issue 34/16.
Mon Sep 05 09:03:45 CEST 2016 Δελτίο τύπου
Three BMW M6 GT3s in the Top Ten in the “Green Hell” – full throttle for Tomczyk and Wittmann at the Lausitzring.
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BMW Motorsport News – Issue 34/16.
Whether in the DTM, 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.
VLN: BMW M6 GT3 in the Top 3 – Bonk drivers
continue to dominate the BMW M235i Racing
Cup.
A successful race on Saturday in the
“Green Hell” for numerous BMW teams: three BMW M6 GT3s
finished in the top ten at the highlight of the VLN
Endurance Racing Championship season, the six-hour race
on the Nürburgring Nordschleife (DE). BMW works driver
Jörg Müller (DE), Felipe Fernández Laser (DE), BMW
Motorsport Junior Jesse Krohn (FI) and Victor Bouveng
(SE) all made it to the podium. They saw the chequered
flag in third place, driving the number 36 car from
Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop. The quartet
also recorded the fastest lap time of 08:04.638 minutes.
This was the first appearance in a BMW M6 GT3 for Laser.
Müller and Krohn gave themselves a very special birthday
present, in the form of the podium finish. BMW works
driver Philipp Eng (AT) also delivered a convincing
performance in his seventh VLN race of the year. After
securing 11th in qualifying, Stef Dusseldorp (NL) and
the winner of the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps (BE)
put on a faultless display of driving. After 43 laps of
the Nordschleife, they crossed the line in fifth in the
ROWE Racing team’s BMW M6 GT3. The third car in the top
ten was the Frikadelli Racing Team’s BMW M6 GT3 , in
seventh place. The Walkenhorst team’s number 50 BMW Z4
GT3 rounded off the good overall result for BMW, with a
12th place finish in the “Green Hell”. Victory in the
six-hour race went to Porsche.
Alexander Mies and Michael Schrey (both DE) remain
the drivers to beat in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class,
as they recorded their seventh win in seven races. The
duo from Team Bonk Motorsport extended their lead in the
Cup standings and in the overall VLN championship.
Second position in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class went
to Thomas Jäger (AT) and Rudi Adams (DE) from the
Scheid-Honert Motorsport team. The Team Securtal Sorg
Rennsport BMW M235i Racing finished in third place with
Heiko Eichenberg and Kevin Warum (both DE) at the wheel.
VLN: Double debut on the
Nordschleife.
BMW DTM driver António Félix
da Costa (PT) and BMW Motorsport Junior Ricky Collard
(GB) both started a race in the “Green Hell“ for the
first time in their respective careers. They took on the
Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE) together at the wheel of a
BMW M235i Racing in the seventh round of the VLN
Endurance Championship on Saturday. This was the second
time this year that Félix da Costa had made a debut,
having previously contested a race in the BMW M6 GT3 for
the first time in the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull
Ring (AT) in July. The race in the Eifel Mountains was
the perfect end to a great week for the Portuguese, who
celebrated his 25th birthday on Wednesday. “The
Nordschleife is the toughest circuit in the world. It is
every racing driver’s dream to race there at least
once,“ said Félix da Costa. “That dream came true for me
today. It was unique to experience the myth of the
“Green Hell“ in the BMW M235i Racing. I had great fun,
and can certainly imagine returning to race here again.“
Félix da Costa will be back in action in the Eifel
region in just one week’s time: the BMW Team Schnitzer
driver will contest races 13 and 14 of the DTM season on
10th and 11th September, when the BMW M4 DTM will do
battle on the Nürburgring’s 3.629-kilometre Grand Prix Circuit.
BMW Motorsport Junior Collard was also making his
first appearance in the “Green Hell“. “The race on the
Nordschleife was a real highlight. The circuit demands
everything of you as a racing driver,“ said Collard. “I
came here to learn, and I am grateful that I was able to
do that with a great racer like António by my side. This
weekend has provided me with a lot of valuable
information. This will be very useful for my future
career. It was my debut for BMW and I feel very proud to
wear the racesuit and represent the brand for the first
time.“ Collard had impressed a jury of BMW Motorsport
experts at a shoot-out in March, after which he was
rewarded with the opportunity to receive comprehensive
training on the BMW Motorsport Junior programme.
Collard’s family enjoys a close association with BMW.
His father Rob Collard (GB) has been driving BMWs in the
British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) since 2008. He
is at the wheel of a BMW 125i M Sport in 2016, and has
so far won two races this season. Ricky Collard has also
been extremely successful this year. He leads the
Drivers’ Championship in the British Formula 3
Championship going into the final event at Donington
Park (GB). Collard and Félix da Costa came home 61st on
the Nordschleife on Saturday.
DTM: Tomczyk and Wittmann go full throttle at
the Lausitzring.
Like the DTM, the Red
Bull Air Race also represents unbridled power and
breath-taking action. For the first time since 2010, the
most spectacular air show in the world returned to the
Lausitzring (DE) and captivated the visitors. The two
BMW DTM drivers Martin Tomczyk (DE) and Marco Wittmann
(DE) were part of the spectacle again this year. On
Saturday and Sunday, Tomczyk in his BMW M Performance
Parts M4 DTM and Wittmann in the Red Bull BMW M4 DTM
completed two show runs. For 20 minutes on each run,
Tomczyk and Wittmann smoked their tyres and fascinated
the spectators with burnouts and doughnuts. Fans had the
opportunity to admire the two BMW race cars up close and
personal in the paddock before and after their
appearances. Both Tomczyk and Wittmann also made time
for several autograph sessions in addition to the show
runs. The Red Bull Air Race World Championship is a
series of airplane races organised by Red Bull – Premium
Partner of BMW Motorsport in the DTM. The aim is to fly
through a course of air gates in 350 hp propeller planes
as quickly as possible while performing the specified
manoeuvres correctly. The sixth of the total of eight
events in the 2016 season took place at the Lausitzring.
BMW M6 GT3: A fast lap with Jens Klingmann in
South Africa.
The BMW M6 GT3 does not
just compete around the world in customer sport: it
featured at the “South African Festival of Motoring”
this week. The event took place from 31st August to 4th
September 2016 at the “Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit” in
Midrand (ZA), which regularly hosted the Grand Prix of
South Africa from 1967 to 1993. BMW South Africa had
invited Team Schubert Motorsport to present the BMW M6
GT3 to a wider public with its special design for the
100th birthday of the BMW Group - as seen during the
24-hour race at the Nürburgring (DE). The “South African
Festival of Motoring” attracts up to 150,000 visitors
each year. BMW customers and local media representatives
were delighted to have the chance to experience laps in
the race taxi with BMW works driver Jens Klingmann (DE).
DTM: Unique fan promotion with Augusto Farfus in
the Shell BMW M4 DTM race taxi.
Twenty
three years after the last race on the
Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE), a DTM car will drive
through the “Green Hell“ again on Monday 12th September.
After the DTM race weekend in the Eifel region, BMW
works driver Augusto Farfus (BR) will be driving laps on
the longest permanent race track in the world in his
Shell BMW M4 DTM. The winner of a fan promotion from
Shell – Premium Technology Partner of BMW Motorsport in
the DTM – will be in the passenger seat. Matthias
Malmedie (DE), best known from “Grip – Das Motormagazin“
on the German TV station RTL II, will be commentating on
this unique taxi journey. This driving experience with
Farfus is being made possible by special conversion work
to the Shell BMW M4 DTM, to adjust it to the specific
requirements of the Nordschleife. “The Nordschleife is
as familiar to me as my living room, I know every
centimetre of asphalt here. I have competed in the
24-hour race countless times, and I won it in 2010,“
said Farfus. “However, I have only experienced the
“Green Hell“ from the cockpit of a GT car. Being allowed
to drive a few laps here with the Shell BMW M4 DTM race
taxi will be a real highlight – especially as I am the
first DTM driver to have this honour for 23 years. I am
really looking forward to this unique promotion and to
my fans, who should really enjoy this.“ Next weekend,
the DTM will be taking place at the legendary
Nürburgring for the 50th time. There have been 73 races
at the historic circuit in the Eifel in this touring car
series, a number only bettered by Hockenheim (80) in
Germany. The races will take place on the
3.629-kilometre short version of the Grand Prix circuit
on 10th and 11th September. The 1993 season was the last
occasion on which DTM cars were able to attack the Nordschleife.
24H Barcelona: Two class wins at the “Circuit de
Catalunya”.
The 24H series paid a visit to
Barcelona (ES) this weekend. The sixth race of the
season took place at the “Circuit de Catalunya” (ES),
which also hosts the Spanish Grand Prix in Formula 1. A
total of nine BMW cars were competing at the “24H
Barcelona”. After 601 laps, Daan Meijer, Pieter van
Soelen, Mark van der Aa and Koen Bogaerts (all NL) from
Team JR Motorsport celebrated the class win in the SP-3
category, securing 17th in the overall standings. Second
position in the class went to Patrick van Glabeke (BE),
Martin Lanting, Bob Herber and Harry Hilders (NL), who
were also competing for JR Motorsport. In the A3
category, Mark Bus, Simon Knap, Rob Severs and Bas van
de Ven (all NL) crossed the line in third place after 24
hours in their MDM Motorsport car. Jimmy de Breucker
(BE), Mario Timmers (BE), Del Bennett (GB), Fortia Pares
(ES) and Alvaro Vela (ES) claimed victory in the BMW
M235i Racing Cup class for the DUWO Racing team. Porsche
secured the overall victory at the “24H Barcelona”.