Timo Glock started his season on a positive note at the Hockenheimring, after the BMW driver secured an ‘important podium’ in the first race, the second year in a row that the German has started the season in such fashion.
Glock qualified his M4 DTM in third and ultimately finished in the same position behind the leading Mercedes duo of Gary Paffett and Lucas Auer.
The German admitted that he had tried to take the fight to Auer in the early stages, before he settled down for a solid third-place finish.
“I’m very happy with the whole day,” said Glock. “My mechanics and engineers gave me a great car; many thanks to them! And our strategy of changing the tyres slightly earlier, putting the Mercedes ahead of me under pressure, worked out really well.
“I tried to get past Lucas Auer, but he defended cleverly. After that, I focussed on getting the tyres to go the distance in the warm temperatures and bringing the important podium home.”
BMW Motorsport’s representative Rudolf Dittrich praised Glock for his podium and also the efforts of Bruno Spengler, who came home in sixth, and the marque’s two new rookies Joel Eirksson and Philipp Eng, who ultimately missed out on the points.
“It was a fantastic start to the season for fans and spectators,” said Dittrich. “The field was extremely close and we saw great duels on the track.
“Congratulations to Timo Glock on a well-deserved podium in the first race of the season after a flawless performance. It’s a great opener for him. The same applies to Bruno Spengler in sixth place.
“I’m also very pleased with the performance of our rookies Joel Eriksson and Philipp Eng. Joel was in the points for much of the race, only narrowly missing out in the end in twelfth place.
“On the whole, it was a good start to the season; we can build on it. Congratulations to Mercedes on the one-two finish.”