Photo: BMW Press Club

BMW content with top six performance at the Red Bull Ring

BMW Motorsport had a tough day at the Red Bull Ring today. Augusto Farfus was the top man for the Bavarian manufacturer, qualifying fifth and finishing in sixth position in the race. Still, Jens Marquardt thinks there is a lot of work to be done.

Farfus didn’t lose sight of Christian Vietoris, ahead of him, during the race. However, a strong recovering Mattias Ekström fought hard, overtaking the Brazilian from Team RBM on the last lap, which left BMW with a sixth position as a best result. Marco Wittmann had a very active race to finish in ninth position, scratching another two points to his personal account.

Augusto Farfus was happy to have done the best possible job to be the top man for BMW, but thinks the manufacturer has to seek improvements to the M4 DTM: “That is a good result, as I was able to hold onto my starting position for a long time. It is a shame that I lost a place on the final lap, but when I saw Mattias Ekström behind me I expected him to come and push me off, which is what he did. Generally speaking our car is just not as competitive as we want, so it is difficult. Nevertheless we did a good job. This was the maximum we could achieve today.”

Marco Wittmann had problems with the brakes as a result of several collisions during the race, but still managed to get in the points: “Those are two hard-fought points today. I actually had a good first lap, and was largely able to stay clear of all the battles going on. At one point I was actually as high as seventh. There are always going to be one or two collisions with the opposition. This apparently resulted in me having some problems with the brakes. This ultimately lost me some places, as the car was good in the fast corners but we were then too weak when braking. Despite this, we made the most of the situation.”

Martin Tomczyk had to retire with a damaged front splitter as a result of several collisions in the initial stages of the race.

The BMW Motorsport Director, Jens Marquardt, recognises that the M4 DTM isn’t at its best, but was satisfied to see all the manufacturers fighting for the points’ positions: “That was a tough race for us. It was clear to us that we would be starting from scratch again here after our outstanding results in Zandvoort. As a whole, we did not manage to get the most out of our package. Augusto Farfus confirmed the fine form he showed in qualifying and was the best-placed BMW driver. Unfortunately Martin Tomczyk was unlucky yet again and had to retire with a damaged car. After the block results witnessed in previous races, we saw all three manufacturers in the top six this time. That is a positive development.”

After today’s race, BMW is third in the Manufacturers’ table, with 247 points, 90 behind the leader. Bruno Spengler, who didn’t score any points today, remains the best placed BMW driver in the championship, in seventh place.