Canadian Bruno Spengler started his BMW Team Schnitzer M3 DTM from the pole and went on to win the race on the short (3.629 km) course at the Nürburgring. The win came on a weekend when BMW was celebrating the 40th anniversary of M.
Spengler’s win, his second for BMW, moved him into second place in the drivers’ points championship behind Gary Paffett of Mercedes, who finished sixth at the Ring.
Audi’s Edoardo Mortara finished second, and BMW Team RMG’s Martin Tomczyk finished third. BMW’s Augusto Farfus finished tenth, Dirk Werner finished twelfth, Joey Hand finished eighteenth, and Andy Priaulx finished nineteenth.
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt said, “That is an absolute dream result for us. Bruno Spengler’s second victory for BMW after yesterday’s pole position, coupled with third place for Martin Tomczyk, were the icing on the cake on a perfect race weekend. I am unbelievably proud of the whole team. We could hardly have wished for a better present on the 40th birthday of BMW M. Bruno controlled the race from start to finish. Martin was able to fight his way onto the podium from fifth on the grid, thanks to a great strategy and a nice overtaking maneuver. The pit stops worked perfectly. BMW Team Schnitzer and the Nürburgring are simply a perfect match for each other. A Schnitzer BMW M3 was also responsible for the most recent BMW win in the DTM on this track almost exactly 22 years ago. That was our ninth DTM triumph at the Nürburgring, and one that we will celebrate accordingly.”
Spengler’s win was the fourth major victory of the weekend for BMW. Bill Auberlen and Jörg Müller won the GT class in the Road America ALMS race in their BMW Team RLL M3, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won the Montreal Rolex Series race in their Ganassi Riley-BMW, and Yelmer Buurman and Michael Bartels piloted their Vita4One Z4 GT3 to a win in the GT1 World Championship race at the Slovakia Ring.—Brian S. Morgan
