Whether in the DTM, the FIA World Endurance Championship, 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.
DTM: BMW Startup Garage is Official Partner of BMW M
Motorsport at Hockenheim.
When the six BMW M4 DTMs take to the track at the DTM finale at
Hockenheim (GER), BMW Startup Garage will be involved as BMW M
Motorsport’s Official Partner. The BMW Group’s start-up company’s logo
will be prominently positioned on the cars’ wheel arches and in the
team garages. “We are pleased to have BMW Startup Garage on board as
Official Partner at such a special event as the DTM season finale,”
said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “BMW Motorsport is all
about innovation. BMW Startup Garage promotes exactly this pioneering
spirit by offering start-up companies in the field of innovative
mobility technologies and products the opportunity to work closely
with the BMW Group. Motor racing provides the perfect platform to test
innovations in small batches and under the most extreme conditions.
For this reason, I would be delighted to see even more start-ups with
a specific focus on motorsport apply at the BMW Startup Garage after
the Hockenheim races.”
Collaboration with start-ups is becoming increasingly important for
large companies. For this reason, the BMW Group formed BMW Startup
Garage in 2015. Its task is to maximise the potential of particularly
innovative start-ups, the products of which are directly usable by the
BMW Group. BMW Startup Garage contacts start-up companies that offer
innovative technologies, products or services. The focus is on
contributing to the further development of the BMW Group. BMW Startup
Garage then offers these start-ups the opportunity to test their
developments in BMW cars or in other technical areas within the BMW
Group, and to optimise those developments with the help of the BMW
infrastructure and feedback from BMW engineers. The bar is so high at
an innovation and technology leader like the BMW Group that it can
significantly accelerate the development of start-up innovations into
marketable commodities. On Monday, BMW Startup Garage organised a
networking event for representatives of top start-ups and the BMW
Group at “Bits Pretzels” in Munich (GER), one of the most
important start-up conferences in the world. Among those present was
Jens Marquardt as “Key Note Speaker”.
VLN: Walkenhorst Motorsport finishes third in the BMW M6 GT3.
The penultimate race of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring
(GER) finished with a podium for the Walkenhorst Motorsport #35 BMW M6
GT3 on Saturday. Jonathan Hirschi (SUI), Jordan Tresson (FRA) and
Hunter Abbott (GBR) celebrated third place in the overall standings
after four hours of racing. The sister 36 car crossed the finish line
in eleventh place overall, and saw them finish second in the SP9 PRE
class. BMW Team Schnitzer started the race from pole position with its
BMW M6 GT3 and BMW works driver Augusto Farfus (BRA) at the wheel, but
was forced to retire. Victory in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class went
to David Griessner (AUT) and Yannick Fübrich (GER) of Pixum Team
Adrenalin Motorsport. They prevailed over Team Hofor Racing powered by
Bonk Motorsport’s Michael Schrey and Marc Ehret (both GER), and Team
FK Performance’s Juha Hannonen (FIN) and Patrick Hinte (GER). First
place in the V2 class went to Thomas Reiner and Manfred Schmitz (both
GER) in their BMW 318iS. In the V4 class, Kevin Totz, Cedric Totz
(both GER) and Torsten Kratz (AUT) of Team Securtal Sorg Rennsport
were victorious in their BMW 325i. The Sorg Rennsport BMW M4 GT4
finished second in the SP10 class.
Italian GT Championship:
BMW Team Italia finished on the podium at Monza.
BMW Team Italia had a successful penultimate race weekend in the
Italian GT Championship. At the high-speed track in Monza (ITA),
Stefano Comandini (ITA) and Max Koebolt (NED) in the #15 BMW M6 GT3
finished on the podium, with third place, in the race on Saturday. On
Sunday, the duo retired from the race after just a few laps.