Joey Hand scores his first DTM points
Defending series champion Martin Tomczyk finished second in the Spielberg, Austria DTM race in his BMW Team RMG M3. His teammate Joey Hand finished ninth, scoring his first DTM points in the process, and BMW Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus finished tenth. Edoardo Montaro won the race for Audi, while DTM points leader Gary Paffett finished third in his Mercedes.
Team RMG’s drivers had been the best of the BMWs in qualifying, with Tomczyk fourth and Hand fifth.
It was a difficult race for the rest of the BMW runners. Dirk Werner and Andy Priaulx were taken out in an incident on the first lap, and Bruno Spengler, who was hit in a separate lap one incident, eventually retired from the race
Hand said, “That was a tough race, but the thing that makes me feel better is that we had a great turnaround and it was a real team effort. In free practice one I was 21st and then the very next morning third! I feel really good in BMW Team RMG as these guys always stick with me. We sort of expected this as I am new to everything. It is not where I want to be, however, as I plan on being a serious contender soon and I think we have really turned a corner this weekend. We had both our cars in the points and that is a great improvement for our new team.”
The series runs again on the Norisring in Germany on July 1.
Coronel finishes on the podium in Portugal
BMW 320 TC racer Norbert Michelisz finished fourth in the first of two World Touring Car championship sprints on the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, while ROAL Motorsport racers Tom Coronel and Alberto Cerqui finished fourth and sixth. Chevrolet’s Yvan Muller won the race.
Coronel battled for second with SEAT racer Pepe Oriola in race two as Chevrolet’s Alain Menu motored away for the win. In the end, Oriola prevailed, leaving Coronel in third. His teammate Cerqui finished sixth, while BMW racer Franz Engstler finished ninth and Michelisz finished tenth.
After Portugal Coronel remains in the fourth position in drivers’ points and Roberto Ravaglia’s ROAL Motorsport team leads the privateer Yokohama Team Trophy standings.
The series resumes competition on July 21-22 on the Curitiba circuit in Brazil.—Brian S Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org
