Having had their fair share of success at the Nürburgring before and after their 20-year hiatus from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, BMW Motorsport heads to the Eifel region in good spirits, following on from their run of form at Zandvoort three weeks ago.
With both Timo Glock and Marco Wittmann winning at the Dutch track, despite the defending champion being excluded post-race two, the Munich brand was able to almost match closest rival Audi Sport in the Netherlands, in respect of the team’s cumulative points haul.
Glock is currently fourth in the standings on 104 points, two ahead of Belgium’s Maxime Martin, and is looking forward to make inroads on a potential title push.
“I hope that we have another good weekend there and can score some points, just like we did in the last races,” said the Team RMG driver, whose best-placed finish at the Sprint track was fifth in the first race last year.
“I would be delighted if we were successful there – primarily for the team, of course. The weather at the Nürburgring is always good for a few surprises, so I am excited to see what awaits us.”
Wittmann is still in with a chance of taking a second successive title, having won at the 3.629-km circuit in both of his title-winning years, and is looking to claw back some of the points he lost from his exclusion from race two at Zandvoort.
“This is a home race for my RMG team and I will be on the attack,” said the 27-year-old, who is one of the three BMW drivers in contention for the overall crown with just six races left.
“I really like the circuit and have always been fast there, so I am hoping for two good qualifying and race results this weekend.”
The link that the brand has with the Eifel-based circuit is very close, with multiple sprint and endurance victories being secured by BMW there, along with the road-going counterparts of their DTM racers having been developed at the same location over the past few years.
“Since our comeback in 2012, we have had some successful weekends in the Eifel Mountains, with wins for Bruno Spengler and Maxime, as well as two victories for Marco and more podium finishes,” explained Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt, who is hopeful that the tradition of success for BMW continues this season.
“We can safely assume that it will be a close-run thing in the Eifel region too. Last season showed that it is difficult to make any sort of prediction. The weather adds an element of unpredictability that can shake things up. We are looking forward to a great, exciting weekend that will hopefully be successful too.”