Photo: BMW
This weekend wasn’t extremely fruitful for BMW. After tough qualification rounds, the best ranked driver for the Bavarians was Marco Wittmann that knew the track best. Even so, he started from the eight position on the grind followed by Maxime Martin on 11th. Those were clear signs that the race wasn’t going to be easy.
And it wasn’t. Before the proceedings started, a pouring rain ruined everyone’s day, the audience getting soaked and the drivers seeing next to nothing on the track, having to rely on other senses to get around.
Starting off eight on the grid and with 5 kilograms of ballast added to his car due to his recent success, Marco managed to finish sixth after a crazy race in the utmost difficult conditions. With this finish, he managed to hold on to his lead in the Drivers’ Championship and now has a grand total of 58 points.
Joey Hand also managed to finish in the points, crossing the line seventh, with the help of the drying asphalt as the race progressed. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the win went to Robert Wickens from Mercedes-Benz.
“Given the position we started from, we are not unhappy with the outcome of the race as far as the Drivers’ Championship is concerned. Marco Wittmann had a good race and managed to leave with a few more points to his name. Joey Hand also produced a great display to finish in the points. On the whole, we are obviously not satisfied.We are not here to finish sixth and seventh,” said Jens Marquardt after the race.
All other 6 DTM drivers from BMW finished outside the points with Bruno Spengler on 11th, Augusto Farfus on 14th, Timo Glock 16th and rookie Antonia Felix da Costa that showed great results in the previous races coming up 20th.
“That was the tough race we expected. The weather made conditions very difficult, and the race was dominated by the tyre strategy. It all came down to switching from wets to slicks at just the right moment,” added Jens.
Maxime Martin’s team made a bad call, sending him out with wet-weather tires once the track started to dry out and forced him to make an unnecessary pit stop later on the race, therefore losing valuable time and finishing 17th. Martin Tomczyk was even unluckier having to forfeit after a collision with Gary Paffett.
The next race in the DTM calendar is scheduled for July 13th, in Moscow, Russia.
Starting off eight on the grid and with 5 kilograms of ballast added to his car due to his recent success, Marco managed to finish sixth after a crazy race in the utmost difficult conditions. With this finish, he managed to hold on to his lead in the Drivers’ Championship and now has a grand total of 58 points.
Joey Hand also managed to finish in the points, crossing the line seventh, with the help of the drying asphalt as the race progressed. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the win went to Robert Wickens from Mercedes-Benz.
“Given the position we started from, we are not unhappy with the outcome of the race as far as the Drivers’ Championship is concerned. Marco Wittmann had a good race and managed to leave with a few more points to his name. Joey Hand also produced a great display to finish in the points. On the whole, we are obviously not satisfied.We are not here to finish sixth and seventh,” said Jens Marquardt after the race.
All other 6 DTM drivers from BMW finished outside the points with Bruno Spengler on 11th, Augusto Farfus on 14th, Timo Glock 16th and rookie Antonia Felix da Costa that showed great results in the previous races coming up 20th.
“That was the tough race we expected. The weather made conditions very difficult, and the race was dominated by the tyre strategy. It all came down to switching from wets to slicks at just the right moment,” added Jens.
Maxime Martin’s team made a bad call, sending him out with wet-weather tires once the track started to dry out and forced him to make an unnecessary pit stop later on the race, therefore losing valuable time and finishing 17th. Martin Tomczyk was even unluckier having to forfeit after a collision with Gary Paffett.
The next race in the DTM calendar is scheduled for July 13th, in Moscow, Russia.
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