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The first two race weekends of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) have not been the easiest for BMW Motorsport, but the Munich manufacturer is intent on returning to form this weekend at the Norisring.
With the recent tyre debacle involving official series partner Hankook behind them, Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt knows that racing to victory on the streets of Nürnberg will still be a difficult task.
“With the return to the old tyre standards, as announced by Hankook, the foundation should be laid for focussing purely on sporting matters once again as of the Norisring. It also makes it easier to analyse our current deficits, since we are not at all happy with the first two weekends of the season,” he explained, as BMW is looking to improve on its current statistics, where defending champion Marco Wittmann took sixth in mixed conditions last year.
Wittmann, who was in Spielberg earlier this week driving a Toro Rosso Formula 1 car, is looking forward to racing again at his home track, which he classes as a “highlight” every year the DTM returns to the area.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t live that far from the track. It motivates me to have so many fans, my family, relatives and friends there supporting me. It gives me that extra push. It’s just so much fun driving on the Norisring.”
Along with Wittmann, several of the BMW drivers, such as Timo Glock, Bruno Spengler, Augusto Farfus and Maxime Martin, have also been busy this week, as BMW Motorsport have been preparing for the forthcoming 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
One other driver that is also looking to use his knowledge of the track is Formula 3 graduate, Team RBM’s Tom Blomqvist, who also realises that a move forward in terms of his own results, needs to be made: ““I’m really familiar with the Norisring from my time in Formula 3.
“Pace is crucial, and we need to improve this compared with the other races. I am definitely really looking forward to the Norisring because it’s a fantastic event. There are always a lot of spectators there. I hope that we’ll have something to offer our fans.”