BMW Motorsport News - Issue 39/2019.

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.

VLN: Fübrich/Griessner are the new VLN champions.

The 2019 VLN champions drive a BMW M240i Racing: in the final race of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring (GER), Yannick Fübrich (GER) and David Griessner (AUT) claimed victory in the BMW M240i Racing Cup class with the #650 car, a result that also secured first place in the VLN overall standings. This is the first VLN triumph for both drivers. Success for Fübrich and Griessner represented the second VLN overall victory in a row for the Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport and team principal Matthias Unger (GER). Last year, Danny Brink, Philipp Leisen and Christopher Rink (all GER) had triumphed in their BMW 325i. The three were in with a chance of repeating this success until the very end before their team-mates claimed glory. Brink, Leisen and Rink did cross the finish line first in their V4 class, however, and won the production car trophy. In the overall standings for the 44^th DMV Münsterlandpokal, Christian Krognes (NOR), David Pittard and Jody Fannin (both GBR) finished third in the Walkenhorst Motorport #34 BMW M6 GT3. BMW teams celebrated a total of five class wins at the VLN season finale.

BMW M240i Racing Cup: Fübrich/Griessner defend their title.

Yannick Fübrich and David Griessner did not just claim the VLN championship at the Nürburgring VLN season finale, but also defended their title in the BMW M240i Racing Cup. The duo from Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport went into the final race with a 46-point lead in the drivers’ standings. They recorded their seventh class win in nine races to move even further ahead and underline their dominance of the season’s proceedings. The year before, Fübrich and Griessner had already proved unbeatable. Second place in the drivers’ standings, and victory in the Junior championship, went to Nico Otto and Lars Peucker (both GER) from the Scheid-Honert Motorsport team. At the season finale, they were joined by Florian Naumann (GER) in the #666 ‘Eifelblitz’ as they claimed second place in the CUP5 class. Third place went to Ben Bünnagel (GER) and Francesco Merlini (ITA) from Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport, which had already been confirmed as Team Champion in the BMW M240i Racing Cup ahead of the final race. First place in the Gentlemen’s standings went to Stefan Kruse (GER), also representing Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport. A total of 16 BMW M240i Racings were on the starting grid for the 44^th DMV Münsterlandpokal.

3 questions for ... Yannick Fübrich and David Griessner.

You came close to securing the VLN title last year and it worked out this time. How relieved are you?

David Griessner: “It is a massive relief and I am delighted. That is the greatest success of my career. My final stint in the race seemed to go on for ever. It feels like a dream to have done it - and I think that we really earned this title win.”

You also defended your title in the BMW M240i Racing Cup. How did you experience the season?

Yannick Fübrich: “Our season was nearly perfect. Today's race was the icing on the cake. We had to win to become VLN champions and to defend our Cup title and we managed to prevail in an unbelievably tight race. We can be very proud of that.”

How important was the contribution made by the Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport to winning this highly competitive class?

Fübrich: “We can only express our admiration for the great work performed by this team. Everything works well and our pit stops are fantastic. We just want to say how grateful we are; it really is a fantastic team.”

Griessner: “I agree totally with Yannick. I am so happy to be driving for such a great team. The atmosphere within the team is also superb. Many thanks to everyone involved in this success!”