Timo Glock insists that taking his first win of the season in race one at Zandvoort ‘was not easy’ despite starting from pole and never being headed of the drivers who were on the same strategy.
Glock put his BMW M4 on pole position for the second time in 2017, but unlike at Hockenheim earlier in the year the German was able to convert the grid position into a first win of the year.
The result gives Glock his first win in over a year, and also makes the BMW Team RMR driver the best-placed BMW driver in the championship battle, as he moves up to fourth overall, 16 points adrift of the summit.
“I am obviously very happy with the way the race turned out,” said the Team Reinhold Mampaey Racing [RMR] driver. “I started from pole and, to a certain degree, controlled the race from the front. It may have looked easy, but it was not, as the front-left tyre is put under extreme stress here.
“The car was very good in the first stint. Strangely, I then had a bit of bouncing on the front axle in the second stint, which resulted in me having a flat spot on the front-right tyre. It was really tough after that. In the end, I finished the job.
“It is nice for BMW to get a one-two-three. BMW Team RMG had two drivers on the podium. That is fantastic.”
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt praised his teams for their tyre management on the newly-resurfaced Dutch circuit, which led to a 1-2-3 result for the marque with Marco Wittmann in second and Maxime Martin in third.
“It was a great race here in Zandvoort,” said Marquardt. “We had an outstanding qualifying, taking the first four places, although we were obviously a little fortunate with the weather.
“However, the guys did an absolutely wonderful job of finishing the job in the race, coming home first, second, third and fourth. This is a superb result for us and we did everything right.
“Tyre management was a real challenge here, and they handled it perfectly. I am delighted for Timo, Marco and Maxime. Augusto [Farfus] also scored more valuable points – absolutely great stuff.”