BMW Motorsport News - Issue 15/2019.

Whether in the DTM, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the ABB FIA Formula E 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.

Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia: Victory and podium for BMW M4 GT4.

At the second race weekend in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia, BMW Team Studie continued the superb form shown at the season-opener. In Sunday’s race at the ‘Chang International Circuit’, the fourth race in the GT4 category, Takayuki Kinoshita and Sunako Jukuchou (both JPN) celebrated the third win of the season in their #81 BMW M4 GT4. The duo had crossed the line second on Saturday. Kinoshita and Jukuchou now have a commanding lead in the GT4 drivers’ standings, with 93 points out of a possible 100. BMW Team Studie is also in first place in the team standings.

Alessandro Zanardi: success at home World Cup event in Italy.

Since his appearance at the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA) at the end of January, BMW brand ambassador Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) has again been concentrating on paracycling. At the weekend, he was in action at his home World Cup event, the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup in Corridonia (ITA). He added another victory to his collection there on Friday when he won the individual time trial by a significant margin. “In my home country, along a circuit lined with fantastic people who supported me for the whole distance, reaching the podium and standing alongside two guys whose combined age is still less than mine; that is really special. I am delighted,” said Zanardi afterwards. On Sunday, he was part of the Italian national team that reached the podium by securing third place in the team event.

Tourenwagen Classics: Van de Poele and Hessel appearing in the BMW M3.

When the Tourenwagen Classics season starts as part of the upcoming DTM event at Zolder (BEL) this weekend, an historic BMW M3 from 1987 will be making an appearance with a very special driving duo. In front of his home fans, Eric van de Poele (BEL) will drive the BMW M3 with which he became DTM champion in 1987. Then as now, another legendary BMW driver will be by his side: Marc Hessel (GER). In 1987, van de Poele and Hessel were the DTM youngsters and team-mates involved in a thrilling battle for the title in the BMW Team Zakspeed. It was the Belgian driver who came out on top at the season finale at the Salzburgring (AUT). The historic BMW M3 will be appearing for Team 2.0 Automotive at Zolder. “My friend Marc got in touch a few weeks ago to ask if I fancied driving the former Zakspeed BMW M3 with him again. Of course, I thought this was a great idea,” says van de Poele. Hessel explains: “The extremely emotional time at BMW, when we fought one another for the DTM title, forged a strong bond between us. It's impossible not to reminisce about 1987. I am really looking forward to appearing together at the Tourenwagen Classics and I am sure that we will have a lot of fun.”