BMW Team MTEK’s Marco Wittmann says he is “overjoyed” with his first-ever win in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, after the 24-year-old opened his second season in the seires with victory at the Hockenheimring.
Wittmann started from second on the grid and lost out to BMW team Schnitzer’s Bruno Spengler at the start of the race. However the German quickly regained the position and on lap three passed poleman Adrien Tambay’s Audi for the lead.
Thereafter Wittmann set about building a comofrtable lead, which stood at 12.869 seconds by the end of the race. The result marks his first win in the DTM in 11 starts, and shows further improvement on an already impressive début season in 2013. It also marks the first victory for the BMW Tema RMG outfit, to whom Wittmann moved for the start of the season.
“I am overjoyed with my maiden DTM win, the first victory for the BMW M4 DTM, and the first success for BMW Team RMG,” said a delighted Wittmann after the race. “I am proud that my win also brought up victory number 60 for BMW in the DTM. Even the tests went very well for me.
“I did not reckon on making quite such a fantastic start to the season,” admitted Wittmann. “We will celebrate today. My start was not ideal, but I was still able to hang on to my position after the first lap. I overtook the leader on lap three and was able to open up a big enough gap to allow me to remain in the lead after the pit stop. I was then able to maintain my lead and seal the win.”
BMW motorsport Director Jens Marquardt praised Wittmann for his win, which marks the culmination of plenty of hard work during the off-season to prepare the new BMW M4 DTM for the coming season.
“What a dream debut weekend for the BMW M4 DTM,” said Marquardt. “To return to Hockenheim with the brand-new BMW M4 DTM and win the first race, half a year after the last victory with the BMW M3 DTM – it doesn’t get much better.
“It is also a great maiden win for BMW Team RMG and Marco Wittmann, who drove an absolutely incredible race and was in a league of his own today. He controlled the entire race magnificently. It was a joy to watch him.
“There is also a lot of work behind this win. On the one hand, our team at BMW Motorsport has been working hard on the BMW M4 DTM for over a year. You never know exactly how good you are compared to the opposition until the first race. Therefore, we are very happy today.”
Wittmann’s win means that BMW Team RMG have already after just one round amassed more points than they did during the entirety of the 2013 season.