Nuremberg. In the seventh race of the DTM season, Marco
Wittmann (GER) claimed third place at the classic Norisring (GER) in
the BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM. This was the first podium finish
for BMW Team’s RMG local hero at his home circuit at Nuremberg
(GER). He had started the race from third place, immediately behind
Philipp Eng (AUT, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM) of BMW Team RBM (RMR), who
finished in fifth place after 68 laps.
Bruno Spengler (CAN) also delivered a strong performance in the BMW
Bank M4 DTM, moving from ninth to sixth during the race. Joel Eriksson
(SWE, BMW M4 DTM) and Timo Glock (GER, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM) were
also in the points, finishing in ninth and tenth respectively, while
Augusto Farfus (BRA, Shell BMW M4 DTM) missed out on the top-ten,
crossing the line in 14th. Victory went to Mercedes driver
Edoardo Mortara (ITA).
Glock is second in the drivers’ standings with 91 points, behind new
leader Gary Paffett (GBR, Mercedes) on 97 points. BMW Team RMR heads
the team standings with 131 points. In the Manufacturers’
Championship, BMW is in second place with 236 points.
Reactions to Saturday’s race at the Norisring:
Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director):
“Congratulations to Marco Wittmann on his first podium finish at his
home race at the Norisring. I am delighted for him – he fought really
hard for this success. Marco was in touching distance of the cars
ahead of him right up to the finish, but then his DRS ran out.
Overall, it was an exciting and interesting race. We got five cars
into the top-ten, which is a good result. Mercedes were very strong
today; congratulations to them. Now we will see if we can do even
better tomorrow.”
Stefan Reinhold (Team Principal, BMW Team RMG):
“Finally getting Marco onto the podium at his home race was our main
objective. We were also determined to improve compared to last year.
We achieved both of those goals. The team worked fantastically to get
Timo’s car ready again after yesterday’s accident. Now we want to take
another step forward tomorrow.”
Marco Wittmann (#11 BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM, BMW Team
RMG – qualifying result: 3rd place, race result:
3rd place, points: 67):
“The podium finish at my home race is just a sensational feeling. I
started well and I was able to pass Philipp Eng. I then challenged
Edoardo Mortara from second place. I got really close to him early on
and we had a nice battle but he was just a bit faster overall. Then
Gary Paffett closed up on me and I had to let him pass. Nonetheless it
is just fantastic to get to the podium here at the Norisring, in front
of my home fans and my family. “
Augusto Farfus (#15 Shell BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG –
qualifying result: 12th place, race result:
14th place, points: 6):
“I just had no pace today and couldn’t find any grip. We build up
speed on fresh tyres but as soon as the tyre performance drops, we
lose the pace completely. We just have to write this day off. Now we
will work hard to ensure that we do better tomorrow.”
Timo Glock (#16 DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR –
qualifying result: 8th place, race result:
10th place, points: 91):
“This hasn’t been an ideal weekend for me so far. The accident
yesterday didn’t help, and I didn’t really feel comfortable in the car
today. I don’t have full confidence in the car for some reason. I had
problems with the tyres in the first stint and I was just driving
along. There was something in the set-up that we didn’t get quite
right, whereas the others did. We will take a closer look at that now.”
Bart Mampaey (Team Principal, BMW Team RBM):
“There were some conflicting weather forecasts so we took the
cautious approach and split the strategies for our cars. That actually
worked pretty well and all three drivers scored points for us. Now we
want to get them even closer to, or better still on the podium tomorrow.”
Philipp Eng (#25 SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR – qualifying
result: 2nd place, race result: 5th place,
points: 53):
“I am really happy overall, even though I would have preferred to
have reached the podium. We will have to improve our race speed a bit
tomorrow. I still managed to score plenty of points by starting on the
front row and finishing the race in fifth place. That looks pretty
good overall.”
Bruno Spengler (#7 BMW Bank M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM – qualifying
result: 9th place, race result: 6th place,
points: 37):
“I did well today and maybe an even better result would have been
possible, had the circumstances been a little different. I was behind
Philipp but I didn’t want to risk anything. The chances of getting
involved in an accident are simply too high here at the Norisring. The
car did very well in the race. Tomorrow, I will be concentrating on
doing better in qualifying.”
Joel Eriksson (#47 BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM – qualifying
result: 11th place, race result: 9th place,
points: 25):
“My performance in qualifying wasn’t particularly good today so it
was clear that the race wouldn’t be too easy either. I lost a bit of
time with the pit stop, otherwise I might have been able to do a bit
better. Nonetheless, I am happy to have scored some points.”