BMW continues to lead the manufacturers’ standings after Race 1
BMW Motorsport scored a podium finish today in Hockenheim, with Maxime Martin finishing in third position in Race 1. Together with two points’ finishes from Marco Wittmann and Tom Blomqvist, the Bavarian manufacturer heads to the final race of the year tomorrow with a 56-point advantage in the championship.
The day started well for BMW, with Martin taking pole position for the afternoon race. At the start, the Belgian kept the lead, but both Timo Scheider and Jamie Green from Audi were pushing hard.
Martin managed to finish in third position. The man from Team RMG acknowledged there wasn’t much he could do to contain the Audis, and was contented for a good team result: “I am really pleased to make it onto the podium here at the finale. You obviously want to win the race when you start from pole position. However, the Audis were just a little bit too fast for me today. In the end I am happy to have scored the points for BMW Team RMG and BMW in the Manufacturers’ Championship.”
Marco Wittmann was sixth, followed by fellow BMW driver Tom Blomqvist. António Félix Da Costa was eighth two laps from the end, but a broken front splitter made him lose ground, finishing in 11th position.
Bruno Spengler and Augusto Farfus also saw a premature end to their races, due to the damage sustained in various collisions.
BMW now has a 56-point advantage over Audi Sport going into the last race of the year, taking place tomorrow. Jens Marquardt, Motorsport Director, was satisfied with the outcome of an eventful race: “Maxime Martin got off to a superb start, but was not quite able to match the leader’s pace. Despite this, he did finish a fine third. Marco Wittmann had a great race and was able to climb from 16th to finish sixth. Tom Blomqvist also scored good points, while a damaged front splitter caused António Félix da Costa to drop back through the field late on, when he was on course for a points finish. We still have a big goal for tomorrow: to defend the lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Like today, we will do everything in our power to achieve that goal.”
The DTM goes back to the track tomorrow at 9:05 for the morning warm up.
