BMW Motorsport News - Issue 13/2020.

Whether in the DTM, 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.

NLS: Three BMW M6 GT3 in the top 10 in the 6-hour race.
At the final showdown before the 24 Hours Nürburgring (GER) on 26^th/27^th September, three BMW M6 GT3 finished in the top 10 this past weekend. At the ROWE 6 Hours ADAC Ruhr Cup race, Nick Catsburg (NED), Philipp Eng (AUT), Alexander Sims (GBR) and Nick Yelloly (GBR) in the #99 BMW M6 GT3 of ROWE Racing were the best-placed team in fifth. In seventh and eighth places were the #42 BMW M6 GT3 of BMW Team Schnitzer, driven by Augusto Farfus (BRA), Jens Klingmann (GER), Martin Tomczyk (GER) and Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), and the #34 BMW M6 GT3 of Walkenhorst Motorsport with Jordan Pepper (RSA) and David Pittard (GBR) at the wheel. The second ROWE Racing car was unable to take part in the race after an accident in qualifying. In the SP10 class, the #1 BMW M4 GT4 of Pixum CFN Team Adrenalin Motorsport with drivers David Griessner (AUT), Yannick Fübrich (GER) and Florian Naumann (GER) celebrated the class win. The BMW Junior Team finished fourth in their second race at the wheel of the BMW M4 GT4 in the SP8T class. Overall, the BMW M customer racing teams were victorious in the five classes CUP5, SP10, SP4, V4 and VT2 at the season highlight of the Nürburgring Endurance Series.

BMW M240i Racing Cup: One-two win for AVIA Sorg Rennsport.
AVIA Sorg Rennsport celebrated a one-two result in the CUP5 class at the highlight of the Nürburgring Endurance Series season. At the wheel of the #695, Heiko Eichenberg and Moritz Oberheim (both GER) were victorious after six hours of racing ahead of their team-mates Ivan Berets (ITA), Brett Lidsey (GBR) and Moran Gott (GBR). Third place went to Marcel Marchewicz, Tim Neuser, Luca-Sandro Trefz (all GER) and Esteban Guerreri (ARG) of Schnitzelalm Racing. The leaders of the overall standings thus far, David Griessner (AUT), Yannick Fübrich (GER), Sindre Setsaas (NOR) and Francesco Merlini (ITA) of Pixum CFN Team Adrenalin Motorsport only finished in eighth, after they were awarded a retrospective penalty for violating regulations during a pit stop.

GT4/TC America: Bill Auberlen continues winning streak.
A week ago, Bill Auberlen (USA) set a new record with the 61^st IMSA win of his career at the IMSA race weekend at “Virginia International Raceway” (USA). A day later he also won the Michelin Pilot Challenge race. Now he has added a victory in the GT4 America SprintX to his impressive run. In the first of three races at Road America (USA), he won alongside James Walker Jr. (USA) in the BMW M4 GT4 of BimmerWorld Racing, with the duo making it onto the podium again in the second race, finishing in P2. Auberlen and Walker Jr. finished the closing third race in 10^th place. Harry Gottsacker (USA) and Nick Wittmer (CAN) of Team ST Racing finished second in the first race, which saw them get the win in the Silver class. In race three, fourth place overall saw the duo finish second in their class. In ST Racing’s second car, Jon Miller (USA) and Samantha Tan (CAN) finished third in the Silver category in the second race.

In TC America, the dominance of the BMW M240i Racing continued at Road America. All three podium spots went to BMW M customer racing drivers in all three races. James Clay (USA) of BimmerWorld Racing was unbeatable in the first two races. In the third race, finishing P2, he was only forced to surrender to Toby Grahovec (USA) of Team Classic BMW. Grahovec finished second in the first race and fourth in the second race. The other spots on the podium went to Johan Schwartz (DEN, Hard Motorsport), Chandler Hull (USA, BimmerWorld Racing) and Austen Smith (USA, Auto Technic Racing).

Italian GT Championship: Fourth and second place for BMW Team Italia.
In the second race of the Italian GT Endurance Championship season in Imola (ITA), BMW Team Italia finished in fourth place in the overall standings with the BMW M6 GT3. Stefano Comandini (ITA), Marius Zug (GER) and BMW works driver Bruno Spengler (CAN) shared the wheel. In the GT4 class, Francesco Guerra, Simone Riccitelli and Nicola Neri (all ITA) in the BMW M4 GT4 finished in second place, like at the season opener in Mugello (ITA).

British GT Championship: GT4 podium for Century Motorsport.
Century Motorsport made it onto the GT4 class podium with the BMW M4 GT4 in the British GT Championship race at Brands Hatch (GBR). Initially, Ben Green and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke (both GBR) finished in third place, but a retrospective penalty was awarded to a rival which saw them move up into second place.

BTCC: Further podiums for Colin Turkington.
Colin Turkington (GBR) of Team BMW finished on the podium twice at the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) race weekend at Knockhill (GBR) to defend his lead in the driver standings. Despite his BMW 330i M Sport carrying heavy success ballast, he finished in second place in both of the first two races. He finished ninth in the third race. His team-mate Tom Oliphant (GBR) finished in eighth, sixth and fourth in the three races. This further strong points haul saw Team BMW extend their lead in the team standings and BMW extend theirs in the manufacturers’ standings.

Sim racing: Three BMW DTM drivers to contest the DTM Esports Championship.
Over the next weeks, the DTM will hold its first official Esports series: the DTM Esports Championship. A total of 18 top sim racers, who will secure their spot in the championship in qualifying races, will then join forces with six current DTM drivers to take each other on. For BMW M Motorsport, Timo Glock (GER), Lucas Auer (AUT) and Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) will take on the challenge in the virtual BMW M4 DTM. They will each form a team of four with three qualifying sim racers. The DTM Esports Championship will take place in September and October, with four races of 20 minutes each, the final of which will be the Grand Finale.