BMW Motorsport News – Issue 31/15.

BTCC: Collard wins in Knockhill, Priaulx on the podium twice.

For the seventh event of the 2015 season, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) headed to Knockhill (GB) in Scotland, where the team of West Surrey Racing celebrated further successes. On Saturday BMW works driver Andy Priaulx (GB) secured pole position for the first race in his BMW 125i M Sport. This first race on Sunday was extremely turbulent and resulted in a win for BMW: Priaulx‘ team-mate Rob Collard (GB) was first to cross the finish line after gripping wheel-to-wheel duels. Priaulx also drove onto the podium in third place. Sam Tordoff (GB) in the third BMW 125i M Sport finished in fourth. In the second race Collard started a pursuit from fourth on the grid and secured second place on the podium, despite having maximum extra weight for recent successes. Priaulx finished fifth, while Tordoff retired. In race three it was Priaulx who made it onto the podium again. He performed strong overtaking manoeuvres to fight his way up the field and was third to cross the line. Collard and Tordoff were forced to retire early from the fiercely contested race.

British GT Championship: BMW Z4 GT3 on the podium.

The penultimate round of the British GT Championship season was held in Snetterton (GB) at the weekend. In the hotly contested first of two races Lee Mowle (GB) and Joe Osborne (GB) in the number 888 BMW Z4 GT3 were fifth to cross the finish line, making them the highest placed BMW duo. Championship leaders Marco Attard (GB) and Alexander Sims (GB) were eighth in the number 1 BMW Z4 GT3 of Ecurie Ecosse. John Minshaw (GB) and Phil Keen (GB) of Team Russia by Barwell finished in 12th. Then heaven's floodgates opened: In the second race it rained so heavily that the race had to be cut short due to the wet track and poor visibility. Minshaw and Keen defied these extremely adverse conditions and drove their BMW Z4 GT3 into second place on the podium. Mowle/Osborne dropped down the field on the first lap, but fought their way back up the field and finished fifth once again. Attard/Sims finished in tenth place after suffering tyre damage.

USCC: Fourth and fifth on the grid for BMW Team RLL.

For the eighth round of the 2015 United SportsCar Championship (USCC), the BMW Z4 GTLMs of BMW Team RLL qualified fourth and fifth at Virginia International Raceway (US) for the Oak Tree Grand Prix, which is due to be held on Sunday afternoon local time. The 15 minute session on Saturday was held in sweltering conditions and, while BMW Team RLL was disappointed not to be able to repeat its performance from free practice session three, where the cars were first and third, it was obvious that the much hotter conditions later in the day had not helped any of the competitors to find grip on the track. It was the number 24 car of John Edwards (US) and Lucas Luhr (DE) that claimed fourth on the grid with the German at the wheel. The number 25 car of Bill Auberlen (US) and Dirk Werner (DE), with the American at the wheel, was just 0.032 secs behind. The Porsche of Nick Tandy (GB) and Patrick Pilet (FR) took pole. In VIR only the GTLM and GTD classes are racing. In the GTD class, Mike Marsal (US) and Markus Palttala (FI) will start from ninth on the grid in the Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 GTD.

VLN: Two BMW Z4 GT3s in the top ten – Team racing one wins in the BMW M235i Racing Cup.

Walkenhorst Motorsport finished with both BMW Z4 GT3s in the top ten in the sixth race of the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring (DE). BMW Motorsport Junior Jesse Krohn (FI), Michela Cerruti (IT) and Felipe Fernándes Laser (DE) crossed the finish line in sixth. Henry Walkenhorst (DE), Matias Henkola (FI) and Andreas Weishaupt (DE) finished ninth. The overall win went to Mercedes. Dennis Wüsthoff (DE) and Benjamin Leuchter (DE) of Team racing one finished in first place in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class. They were in front of Philipp Leisen (DE) and Thomas Jäger (AT) of Team Securtal Sorg Rennsport and Michele Di Martino (DE) and Moritz Oberheim (DE) of Team TKS-Motorsport. Finishing in fourth place was enough for Ralf Schall (DE) and Mario Merten (DE) of Team Bonk Motorsport to take the lead in the overall standings. The BMW teams celebrated a total of seven class victories in the 38th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen.

CTSCC: P4 for Hindman/Freiberg at VIR.

A fourth place finish in the Grand Sport class by Ashley Freiberg (US) and BMW Motorsport Junior Trent Hindman (US), driving the number 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, made the young duo the highest placed BMW drivers in Saturday’s two-hour-and-thirty-minute Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (CTSCC) race at Virginia International Raceway (US). On Friday Freiberg had qualified the car sixth in class. In the Street Tuner class, James Clay (US) and Jason Briedis (US), driving the number 84 Bimmerworld Racing BMW 328i, were 18th.

DTM: Martin Tomczyk completes fast laps in the BMW M235i Racing.

Before he takes to the track in his BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM once again next weekend, BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) took the wheel of a different BMW race car: At Bilster Berg Drive Resort near Bad Driburg (DE), he completed fast laps in the BMW M235i Racing. Some of the members of the Bilster Berg Drive Resort will be in action in this popular customer racing car in the future. BMW Motorsport and Tomczyk were on site to hand over the BMW M235i Racing to its new drivers on Friday. While driving around the track with the new owner, and in the motorsport talk that followed, the BMW works driver gave numerous tips on topics such as choosing the racing line and tuning. “The day at Bilster Berg Drive Resort was brilliant. On the one hand it is a fantastic racetrack, while on the other hand the BMW M235i Racing is incredible to drive. It was great spending a day with so many motorsport enthusiasts and having interesting conversations about horsepower,” said Tomczyk. From the BMW M235i Racing, in which parts from BMW M Performance such as steering wheel, rocker panels, spoiler and diffusor are installed, he will return to his BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM. This coming weekend (29th/30th August) sees races 11 and 12 of the DTM season take place at the “Moscow Raceway” (RU).

DTM: Timo Glock heads to Formula 1 in Spa-Francorchamps.

Four weeks ago BMW works driver Timo Glock (DE) was in action in the BMW Z4 GT3 on the “Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps” (BE), now he returned to the legendary track in the Ardennes. Together with Premium Partner DEUTSCHE POST, he attended the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. “It was great to be back in the Formula 1 paddock again and see so many former colleagues and friends,” said Glock. “My partner DEUTSCHE POST organised a major event as part of the Grand Prix. I enjoyed giving guests an insight into motorsport and interesting background information on the race. And it was the first time that I was in Spa when it hasn't rained. It was a great weekend all-round.” Glock competed in the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps alongside Alessandro Zanardi (IT) and Bruno Spengler (CA) at the end of July. After a strong performance, a technical defect forced them to retire shortly before the end of the race. As well as Glock, his BMW DTM team-mate Maxime Martin (BE) also attended the Formula 1 Grand-Prix in Spa-Francorchamps. The two of them will now head to Moscow (RU) for the DTM races.