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.
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: 3rdplace, race result: 3rdplace, 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: 12thplace, race result: 14thplace, 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: 8thplace, race result: 10thplace, 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: 2ndplace, race result: 5thplace, 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: 9thplace, race result: 6thplace, 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: 11thplace, race result: 9thplace, 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.”
The article DTM 2018: Marco Wittmann secures third place at the Norisring appeared first on BMW BLOG
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