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BMW now heads into another season in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) in 2016, having already stated at the 2015 Season Review that their drivers for the forthcoming season will remain unchanged.
However, the Munich manufacturer has once again opted to change the majority of the driver pairings, as Jens Marquardt’s outfit look to defend their constructors’ crown from last year, as well as going for the team and driver titles.
The current Team Schnitzer drivers, Martin Tomczyk and António Félix da Costa, are the only part of the line-up that remains unchanged. Timo Glock will now be reunited with 2014 champion Marco Wittmann at Team RMG, as the pair originally started racing in the DTM at Ernest Knoors’ Team MTEK.
Wittmann now reverts to the #11 on his M4 for the campaign, after losing the drivers’ title to Mercedes-AMG DTM’s Pascal Wehrlein.
Augusto Farfus now departs Team RBM after a four-year association, to partner 2012 Champion Bruno Spengler at Ernest Knoors’ Team MTEK, with Maxime Martin moving from Stefan Reinhold’s outfit to replace Farfus, partnering Tom Blomqvist.
Consistency in the line-up has been a big part of what Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt has been able to maintain, since BMW returned to the DTM in 2012, as he explained that there was “no need to change our squad.”
“We have a very strong and stable squad of drivers, which showed outstanding tream spirit in the battle for the Manufacturers’ title last season.
“However, it has always been our philosophy to create new impulses by systematically varying the line-ups within our four DTM teams, and thus to get the absolute maximum out of our package.”
Marquardt stated that BMW is confident that the team will be able to achieve more success in the DTM this year: “Augusto, Timo and Maxime have proven that they are amongst the best in the DTM and that they are capable of winning races.
“They now face new challenges, which will hopefully help them take another step forward in their development.”
As of yet, the only set of drivers yet to be unveiled is that of Mercedes-AMG DTM, which will also be bringing its newest challenger, the C-Class Coupe AMG, to the fight this year.