The 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship at BMW Welt on July, 28.

Munich. More and more people around the world are discovering a passion for drone racing. On July 28, 2018 BMW Welt in Munich will be transformed into a gladiator arena in which the best pilots in the international Drone Racing League will be battling for a place in the final of the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship in Saudi Arabia. The drones will be flying at speeds well in excess of 90 miles an hour around a specially designed course inside the building and above the vehicle exhibits. The lineup of twelve highly experienced pilots includes competitors from Germany, USA, England, Sweden and the Netherlands as well as the German eGaming stars McStralle and UpsidedownFPV. Fans and visitors can follow the event live and enjoy an exciting fringe program.

Racing at high speed through BMW Welt

This year, BMW has been named as an official partner of the Drone Racing League (DRL), which is organizing one of the largest international racing series in this futuristic sport, the “2018 DRL Allianz World Championship”. Experienced FPV (First Person View) pilots will guide their custom-made DRL drones around complex three-dimensional courses, reaching speeds of more than 90 miles an hour. The course around the award-winning architecture of BMW Welt and the vehicle exhibits has been plotted with millimeter accuracy thanks to state-of-the-art hardware and software. As a result, around 1,000 spectators on various platforms throughout BMW Welt will have thrill-a-minute drone races, and the drone pilots will be faced with an attractive and highly challenging course. This calls for a huge amount of equipment and high levels of organization on both sides – the BMW Welt and the DRL, whose teams have been preparing the event together for months. The set-up is impressive: A crew of 150, some 600 identical, custom-built DRL racing drones and the rest of the equipment are coming in a total of eight articulated trucks. Once they arrive at BMW Welt, up to 3,000 meters of cabling need to be laid, including power supply cables for more than 60 cameras.

“Drone racing is becoming more and more popular thanks to DRL professionalizing the sport and bringing it into the mainstream. We are bringing the semi-final races of the DRL Championship to BMW Welt, so our visitors can experience this new sport close up ”, said Jörg Reimann, Head of BMW Customer Brand Experience. “Our involvement addresses an exciting new target group with an interest in action sports and with great affinity for digitalization, state-of-the-art materials and advanced technologies.”

Schedule for the DRL Championship on July 28, 2018:

For more information go to www.bmw-welt.com

If you have any queries, please contact:

Alessandro Toffanin

Product Communications BMW

Telefono: +39 02 51610308

Fax: +39 02 516100308

E-mail: alessandro.toffanin@bmw.it

Media website: www.press.bmwgroup.com  (comunicati e foto) e http://bmw.lulop.com (filmati)

BMW Welt – at the heart of the brand, on the pulse of the city

With more than 3 million visitors per year, BMW Welt in Munich is Bavaria's most visited attraction and has become a real magnet for visitors since its opening in 2007. With its iconic architecture, BMW Welt is the heart of all the brands in the BMW Group – BMW, the sub-brands BMW M and BMW i, MINI, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and BMW Motorrad, which are impressively presented in their own worlds of experience. But it is not only the exhibitions and the collection of new vehicles that are highlights for car lovers from all over the world. Visitors can enjoy a year-round programme of varied events covering culture, art and entertainment as well as a popular event location for over 400 external events per year.

The various restaurants of the BMW Welt offer a variety of culinary delights up to star gastronomy. In the BMW Welt Junior Campus, children and youngsters can enjoy exciting guided tours and workshops on the themes of mobility and sustainability.

The BMW Group

With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2017, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.463 million cars and 164,000 motorcycles world-wide. The profit before tax was approximately € 9.67 billion on revenues amounting to € 94.16 bil-lion. As of 31 December 2016, the BMW Group had a workforce of 124,729 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible ac-tion. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving re-sources as an integral part of its strategy.

www.bmwgroup.com

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ABOUT DRL

DRL is the pro drone racing sport for elite FPV pilots around the world. A technology, sports and media company, DRL combines world-class media and proprietary technology to create thrilling drone racing content with mass appeal. In 2018 DRL is hosting a global series of seven races, the Allianz World Championship, to be broadcast on ESPN, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, Disney XD, OSN and other leading broadcast channels in 75+ countries around the world. Founded by Nicholas Horbaczewski in 2015, DRL is a privately held company headquartered in NYC. For more information on the 2018 race season, visit www.drl.io.

To join the conversation, follow DRL on Facebook at facebook.com/thedroneracingleague, on Twitter @DroneRaceLeague, and on Instagram @thedroneracingleague.