BMW M celebrates DTM win and eight NLS class victories

BMW M Motorsport had a busy August at the Nürburgring, where Marco Wittmann took a DTM win and a third place, and the BMW M3 Touring 24H made its first appearance at the circuit since the 24-hour race. In the BMW M2 Cup, Michael Schrey took a third straight perfect weekend, while customer teams added podiums in ADAC GT4 Germany and the British GT Championship. Earlier in the month, BMW teams collected an overall podium and eight class victories in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie.

BMW’s customer racing programme rarely goes quiet in the middle of the European season, and the ADAC race weekend at the Nürburgring from 14 to 16 August gave the brand plenty to report across several series at once.

A DTM win and a crowd-pleasing estate

The headline result came from Marco Wittmann, who won one of the two DTM races at the Nürburgring and finished third in the other. Alongside the DTM entry, the BMW M3 Touring 24H returned to the circuit for the first time since the 24-hour race, with BMW M works driver Max Hesse taking selected guests out for taxi rides on the Grand Prix circuit.

“It was a jam-packed weekend for me with my duties as a Schaeffler brand ambassador and the taxi rides in the BMW M3 Touring 24H. The laps with the guests were the absolute highlight. They got in full of anticipation because the car is just so special. After their laps, there was a mix of beaming smiles and shouts of joy. It was great fun.” — Max Hesse

According to BMW, the racing estate will be on display in the paddock again at the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS meeting at the end of August. Until then it can be seen in the M Showroom at the track.

Schrey makes it three perfect weekends in a row

In the third round of the BMW M2 Cup, Michael Schrey repeated the clean sweep he has now managed three times in succession: two wins and two pole positions in the #2 BMW M2 Racing run by Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport.

Behind him, Moritz Groneck finished second in both races in the #77 ME Motorsport car. Christopher Holst completed the podium on Saturday, with Niklas Hirsch of FK Performance Motorsport taking third on Sunday.

Two GT4 teams on the podium

Both teams also scored in ADAC GT4 Germany. ME Motorsport’s Linus Hahne and Phillip Wiskirchen took second in race one in the #77 BMW M4 GT4 EVO, with FK Performance Motorsport’s Luca Link and Luis Moser third. In race two, FK Performance team-mates Gabriele Piana and Benjamin Sylverstersson finished second. The pair currently lie third in the drivers’ standings on 121 points.

Eight class wins in the NLS

On the first weekend of August, the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie delivered another strong set of results. Ugo de Wilde, Jens Klingmann and Tim Tramnitz finished second overall in the #77 BMW M4 GT3 EVO run by Schubert Motorsport. Dan Harper, Leyton Fourie and Maxime Oosten took fifth overall and third in the SP9 PRO class in the #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO from FK Performance Motorsport.

Eight class victories followed: AV Racing by Black Falcon won SP10 with the BMW M4 GT4 EVO, Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport took the BMW M2 class with the BMW M2 Racing, and there were further wins in the BMW M240i, BMW 325i, SP4, V3, V4 and VT2-RWD categories.

Podiums in Britain and the Czech Republic

In the British GT Championship at Snetterton 300 on the same weekend as the Nürburgring meeting, Century Motorsport scored across multiple classes. Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark took second in the Silver-Am class in race two with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, and there were further podiums with the BMW M4 GT4 EVO in the Silver and Pro-Am categories. WSR FlexiFly added a third place in Pro-Am.

At the GT Cup Series round at Most in the Czech Republic from 31 July to 2 August, H&R Spezialfedern took two class wins with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and GT Sports matched that with the BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

What it means

The spread of results is the point here. BMW’s GT3, GT4 and one-make M2 machinery all scored in the same fortnight across German, British and central European grids, which is the clearest measure of how widely the customer racing programme is deployed rather than how fast any single car is.

Björn Lellmann, Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport, summed up the run of form:

“In many racing series, things tend to quiet down in August due to the summer break, but last weekend things really heated up at the Nürburgring. Congratulations to Marco Wittmann and Schubert Motorsport on their fantastic DTM victory! At the same time, I’d like to congratulate Michael Schrey on another double win in the BMW M2 Cup, as well as FK Performance Motorsport and ME Motorsport on their podium finishes with the BMW M4 GT4 EVO. The fan-favorite appearance of the BMW M3 Touring 24H completed our car line-up at the Nürburgring. Also last weekend, Century Motorsport secured podium finishes in the British GT with both the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and the BMW M4 GT4 EVO. The success stories of our customer racing cars continue.”

The next outing for the BMW M3 Touring 24H is the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS round at the end of August.

Source: www.press.bmwgroup.com