BMW Motorsport News - Issue 28/2019.

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. 

Alex Zanardi: Treble at the Para-cycling World Cup in Canada.

BMW works driver and brand ambassador Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) continued his winning run on the international paracycling scene. The Canadian city of Baie-Comeau hosted the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup at the weekend. Zanardi lined up in three races, and won all three. Win number one came in the individual time trial on Thursday. He then won the team relay with his team-mates Paolo Cecchetto and Luca Mazzone in the Italian national team. Saturday’s closing road race turned out to be a real thriller in which Zanardi produced a fantastic sprint finish to take the lead in the final metres and claim his third win in three races.

W Series: Beitske Visser on the podium again at the season finale.

BMW Motorsport Junior Beitske Visser (NED) ended the inaugural season of the W Series with another podium at Brands Hatch (GBR). Third place at the season finale ultimately meant second place in the overall standings. With 100 points to her name, Visser ended the season just ten points behind the first W Series champion, Jamie Chadwick (GBR). Victory at Brands Hatch went to Alice Powell (GBR). “It has been a fantastic season,” said Visser. “The pace was there in every single race. We were unlucky with technical issues at the season-opener at Hockenheim, but we always had the necessary speed. I knew that it would be tough here at Brands Hatch, as I did not know the circuit. I gave it my all today and am happy with my race, even if I unfortunately came up just short in the title race.” After six races, Visser ended the first season of the W Series with one win and a further three podium finishes to her name.

ADAC GT4 Germany: Second win of the season for RN Vision STS.

Marius Zug (GER) and Gabriele Piana (ITA) claimed their second win of the season in ADAC GT4 Germany, having previously tasted success at Oschersleben (GER). After 33 laps of racing, the RN Vision STS duo crossed the finish line first in the #7 BMW M4 GT4 to take victory in Saturday’s race at Zandvoort (NED). Zug started the race from pole position, but initially dropped back through the field. An early pit stop and a change of driver brought the BMW M4 GT4 back to second place. Piana showed plenty of fighting spirit to regain the lead and finish the race with a comfortable advantage of 19.9 seconds. This success was enough to guarantee that Zug wins the Junior competition.

In Sunday’s second race, Michael Schrey (GER) and Thomas Jäger (GER) finished fourth in the Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport run #2 BMW M4 GT4. They were followed home by Piana and Zug in fifth place. Claudia Hürtgen (GER) and Michael Fischer (AUT) also had a top ten finish in the #3 BMW M4 GT4, again fielded by Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport. They crossed the finish line in ninth place. 

China GT Championship: Race terminated after rain roulette.

The races in the China GT Championship at Qinhuangdao, China, became a slippery affair for all the teams and drivers. Torrential rainfall and abysmal conditions on the track led race control to terminate the second race with roughly ten minutes remaining for safety reasons. Jesse Krohn (FIN) and Betty Chen (TWN) were classified as finishing sixth in the #91 BMW M6 GT3 of FIST-Team AAI. Their team-mates Nick Yelloly (GBR) and Junsan Chen (CHN) followed in seventh place. They were the best-placed BMW drivers in fifth place in Saturday’s race. Krohn/Chen failed to finish race one.

In the GT4 category, the Master Champ team finished sixth overall with the #999 BMW M4 GT4 in the opening race of the weekend. This equated to first place in the AM/AM class. They then finished seventh (third in the AM/AM class) in race two.

ADAC GT Masters: Fightback in the dunes.

Jens Klingmann (GER) and Nicolai Sylvest (DEN) showed fighting spirit at the ADAC GT Masters weekend at Zandvoort. The pair found themselves down in 17^thplace after qualifying for the first race on Saturday. Over the course of the race, Klingmann and Sylvest gradually climbed through the field and eventually came home sixth in the #14 BMW M6 GT3 after 34 laps of the circuit in the dunes. The MRS GT-Racing drivers failed to finish Sunday’s race.