Bruno Spengler is the new ‘Mr. Norisring’ after fifth victory

BMW Motorsport Team RMG driver Bruno Spengler settled the tie of victories between him and Audi’s Jamie Green with a solid drive at the Norisring to score his fifth win on the iconic track.

Spengler made an impressive start from sixth on the grid to claim the lead by the first corner, where the Canadian took advantage of the battle between Audi drivers René Rast, Nico Müller and Loïc Duval.

“I overtook a few cars at the start,” Spengler told TouringCarTimes. “Three guys touched each other and I found the gap and overtook. I didn’t expect it, but it felt very good to be in P1.”

Spengler stayed on the lead until his tyre change at the end of lap 31, returning to the front of the race ten laps later when all of his rivals had pitted.

“In the DTM you aren’t allowed any mistakes if you want to win. The car was very consistent today. It wasn’t easy to improve from yesterday, but the team made some improvements that worked in the right direction,” added the Canadian.

Spengler’s pit stop was on lap 33, a late call given the high risk of a safety car intervention at the Norisring. The 35-year-old explained how that and the rain forecast was on his mind during the race.

“Until my stop I was thinking about the safety car. After that, I thought about the chance of rain. But we just had to keep going, it pays off to have a normal race and be able to push from the beginning to the end.”

Spengler didn’t use the DRS or the push-to-pass function during the race, something that gave him “goose bumps”.

“When I was pulling away I thought ‘the car feels good, let’s keep pushing’, and I felt good. The whole race you have goose bumps. It’s a feeling you want to have every time and you try to improve all the time to keep the momentum going,” said Spengler.

“Bruno did a fantastic job from the start, really good start and first corner,” BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt told TouringCarTimes. “I think he didn’t use any DRS nor push-to-pass in the whole race and still was one of the quickest cars out there. I think also, strategy wise, the team did a great job.”

Spengler is placed fourth in the standings, 51 points behind René Rast. BMW is second in the manufacturers’ table, 115 points behind Audi Sport.