Ricky Collard, Joel Eriksson and John Edwards complete BMW test at Jerez

BMW Motorsport junior drivers Ricky Collard and Joel Eriksson, as well as Team RLL driver John Edwards, got behind the wheel for the Bavarian manufacturer at the DTM young driver test held at Jerez this week.

Joel Eriksson, who had already driven a BMW M4 DTM Race Taxi at several DTM race weekends, became the rookie of the year at the FIA European Formula 3 Championship this season, finishing fifth overall, also winning the F3 Masters in Zandvoort.

The Swede was impressed with the performance of the DTM car. “It was great. The BMW M4 DTM is one of the best cars I have ever driven in my career and I am very grateful to BMW Motorsport that they gave me the opportunity to test here in Jerez,” he said. “In the beginning I had to get used to the fact that I sit on the left side and not in the middle. The power is impressive and it is really great to sit in a touring car that has this amount of grip. The downforce is amazing.”

Ricky Collard was runner up in the British Formula 3 championship this year and had his first taste of a DTM car, and was also impressed by the level of downforce.

“The car has more downforce than I am used to from the British Formula 3 car,” said Collard, son of BTCC front-runner Rob Collard. “It was another step up from what I have been doing before. Overall there was a lot to learn for me during these days, as this car is more complex than any other car I ever drove. So I gathered new experience in many aspects.”

John Edwards, who drives for BMW Team RLL driver in the IMSA, also had his first ever run with a DTM car.

“I had heard from everybody telling me that it has a lot of downforce, but you really have to drive it to believe it,” said Edwards. “It is one thing to see on the data that this or that corner can be done flat every lap, but when you really go out and go through these corners it is amazing to see how easy it is to do these corners flat because of the downforce level.”

The young hopefuls were joined by BMW DTM drivers Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler, who continued development work in preparation for the new DTM technical regulations coming into force in 2017.