BMW to keep same five works drivers

Earlier we already reported that Andy Priaulx was staying with BMW for next year. Now Augusto Farfus Jr., Jörg Müller, Félix Porteiro and Alessandro Zanardi has also been anounced to stay on as works drivers for BMW next year. The manufacturer from München anounced this today.

This year the BMW squad is very succesfull, with three of the five drivers still fighting for the title. However, for BMW the drivers title is not the most important. “For BMW, the manufacturers’ championship is top priority,” BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said. “In 2005 and 2006 we fielded the best cars – the BMW 320i and the BMW 320si. This season our main aim is to prove that we can do the same again.” Untill now, the five BMW drivers have won eight races and scored 25 podium finishes.

“The 20 races from this years Touring Car World Championship has shown that we are very competitive with our currrent driver line up”, Theissen continues. “So we don’t have any reason to change anything in this line up for 2008. After all, continuity is a very important factor if you want to have a succesfull cooperation between a team and their drivers. I’m sure these five drivers will play an important role in next years season, but for now we’ll concentrate on the finale in Macau.”

For Andy Priaulx it will be the sixth year with RBM from Belgium. The team that is lead by Bart Mampay has had many successes with Andy Priaulx. In 2004 they won the European Touring Car Championship together, in 2005 and 2006 they won the World Touring Car Championship. And this year Priaulx is leading the standings again with just one more round at Macau to go. Every reason for RBM and BMW to hang on to their most succesfull Touring Car driver. “The renewal of my partnership with BMW and Team RBM is a timely boost for all the team as we head out to Macau,” said Priaulx. “There’s no doubt we’re in for another exciting finale and to win a third world crown would just be incredible. It’s been a united effort all season where we’ve had to fight harder than ever for every point.”