Munich. Gabriele Piana (ITA) and Hofor Racing are the winners
of the Drivers’ and Team competitions in this year’s BMW Sports
Trophy. BMW Motorsport traditionally honours the most successful
privateers from the previous season at the end of the year. The
‘Night of Trophies’ at BMW Group Classic in Munich (GER) on Friday
saw the coveted trophies presented at a joint evening with BMW
Motorrad Motorsport for the first time. Furthermore, the new BMW M2
CS Racing was also presented live to the customer teams and drivers
from around the world.
With 844 points to his name, Piana was top dog in the Drivers’
Competition during the 2018/19 scoring period. He was rewarded for his
efforts with a winner’s cheque for € 30,000. His team-mate,
16-year-old Marius Zug (GER), also picked up the trophy for the best
young driver. In the Team Competition, Hofor Racing took victory for
the first time. The 25 most successful drivers and the top ten teams
shared a total prize purse of € 350,000. This season, 339 drivers and
71 teams were registered for the BMW Sports Trophy competitions.
Roughly 200 guests joined BMW Group Motorsport Director Jens
Marquardt and Dr. Markus Schramm, Head of BMW Motorrad, together with
presenters Eve Scheer and Alexander Hofmann, as they started the
evening by looking back on the highlights of the Customer Racing
season. They included overall victory for Pixum Team Adrenalin
Motorsport in the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring with
the BMW M240i Racing, the Driver title in the GT4 European Series with
the BMW M4 GT4, and overall victory in the Driver and Team
competitions in the China GT Championship with the BMW M6 GT3. After
that, the main participants on two and four wheels, who once again
delivered many victories and titles in 2019, took turns on the stage.
“Congratulations to Gabriele Piana and Hofor Racing on their overall
victories in the BMW Sports Trophy,” said Marquardt. “Both Gabriele
and Martin Kroll’s teams have been successfully entering our
traditional Customer Racing competition for many years and regularly
achieve great success in BMW race cars. As such, I am all the more
delighted that they have now been rewarded for their efforts with
first place in the BMW Sports Trophy. However, at BMW Motorsport we
are also very proud of all the other participants. Every single
top-ten result, every single podium, and every single race win is very
valuable to us. I would like to thank all the drivers and teams, who
have once again proved to be fantastic ambassadors for the BMW brand –
regardless of which championship, which car, and which corner of the
world they have been competing in.”
Driven to the top by passion: Gabriele Piana and Hofor Racing.
After finishing 15th last year, Piana made it to the very top of the
overall standings this time. The 33-year-old finished well clear of
Americans Johan Schwartz and Alec Udell. Piana contested the full
season in ADAC GT4 Germany and the GT4 European Series in a BMW M4 GT4
for the RN Vision STS Racing team. He took eight class victories and
scored a total of 844 points. “That would not have been possible
without Marius, the team and all the people who support me,” said
Piana. “We are a small team and we worked very well. It was not an
easy season and we had some disappointments too. But that just makes
me all the more delighted. I would like to thank the whole team,
Marius and my family.”
The Hofor Racing team was unbeatable in the BMW Sports Trophy Team
Competition. With 1,076 points, the Swiss team finished ahead of Pixum
Team Adrenalin Motorsport and Rooster Hall Racing in second and third
place. As well as 25 podium finishes, Martin Kroll’s (SUI) team also
won the team title in the 24h Series Champion of the Continents, the
24h Series European Championship, and ADAC GT4 Germany. As well as the
trophy, Hofor Racing also picked up a winner’s cheque for € 30,000 for
its victory in the BMW Sports Trophy Team Competition.
“We’ve been involved for ten years now and we have been working
with Bonk Motorsport for the last two years“, said Martin Kroll.
“And we have managed to secure the BMW Sports Trophy title after
these two years. That is a great feeling.” Michael Bonk (GER),
Team Principal of Bonk Motorsport, adds: “We’ve already
experienced the winning feeling as a team, but this is the first time
we’ve won a title. When we joined forces, winning the team
championship was one of our main objectives. But no-one expected it to
happen quite so quickly.”
Zanardi honours exceptionally talented Marius Zug as “Rookie
of the Year”.
Marius Zug can also look back on an extraordinary debut season with
BMW. At just 16 years of age, the youngster performed impressively
alongside Piana. He claimed top-ten finishes in ten of twelve ADAC GT4
Germany races. He ended the season in second place, just six points
off the lead, and also won the Junior competition. Zug also went up
against some big names in the GT4 European Series and, despite taking
five race wins, missed out on the Drivers’ title by a whisker. For
those performances, he was named ‘Rookie of the Year’ by BMW works
driver and Brand Ambassador Alessandro Zanardi (ITA). “This award
is a lovely way to end the year, even though the season didn’t go
perfectly”, said Zug. “This is my first event with BMW and I am really
enjoying it.”
FIST-Team AAI produces the BMW Customer Racing ‘Moment of the Year’.
After the ‘Win of the Year’ was awarded at last year’s BMW Motorsport
end-of-season event, this year fans on BMW Motorsport social media
channels had the opportunity to vote for their personal BMW Customer
Racing ‘Moment of the Year’. They could choose between five highlights
from the 2019 season. With 70 percent of the votes, victory went to
FIST-Team AAI, which won both the Drivers’ and Team titles in this
season’s China GT Championship. Champion driver Nick Yelloly (GBR)
accepted the award on behalf of the team.
The event concluded with another premiere, as the customer racing
teams and drivers present were officially introduced to the new BMW M2
CS Racing for the first time. The new entry-level model from BMW M
Motorsport not only boasts impressive driving performance, but also
offers newcomers to motorsport the performance of a thoroughbred race car.
Overview of the final results for the 2018/19 BMW Sports Trophy.
BMW Sports Trophy Driver Standings:
BMW Sports Trophy Team Standings: