BMWs took the top seven positions in the Saturday DTM race on the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands, and then came back on Sunday to sweep the top five spots.
Saturday’s win was the first of the season for defending series champion Marco Wittmann, who powered his BMW Team RMG M4 DTM past pole-sitter Augusto Farfus in the first turn and led the rest of the way. Wittmann spent the entire race fending off BMW Team Schnitzer’s António Félix da Costa, who went on to secure his first DTM podium finish. Wittmann’s teammate Maxime Martin finished third.
Behind the leading trio were Farfus (Team RBM), Team MTEK’s Bruno Spengler and Timo Glock, and Farfus’ teammate Tom Blomqvist. The only BMW racer not finishing in the points was Martin Tomczyk, who exited the race with mechanical problems on lap six.
da Costa secured the pole for Sunday’s race and went on to score his first DTM win ahead of Farfus, who ran on da Costa’s tail after both racers pitted just past the twenty minute mark. Spengler, Glock, and Wittmann rounded out the top five. Martin, who was forced off the circuit early in the race, finished seventeenth, Blomqvist finished eighteenth after serving a stop-and-go penalty, and Tomczyk, who retired again, this time because of a collision.
Speaking after the second race, BMW motorsport director Jens Marquardt said, “After yesterday’s result, we were able to achieve another top result in race two, although it was much tougher today. It is obviously fantastic to see so many BMW drivers so far up the field. After yesterday’s excellent second place, António Félix da Costa went one better and claimed his first win in the DTM today – the first Portuguese driver ever to do so. He drove a good race. It was not easy for him, as he had all his fellow BMW drivers behind him. António and BMW Team Schnitzer worked hard for that win. They have not always had it easy in recent months. .. All in all, my summary of the weekend is obviously a very positive one. Everything came together for us. However, given the overall situation, we remain realistic in our evaluation of the weekend: the opposition is extremely strong – much stronger than it may have appeared here. The way the DTM is at the moment, it is coming down to mere details from one racetrack to the next. The differences in qualifying times are always extremely small. Importantly, our team spirit is very strong. We will need that over the coming months. We must continue to work hard. I would like to dedicate this success to the entire team, of whom I am very proud. .Everybody worked very hard for that. Today we will celebrate, but we start from scratch again in Spielberg.”
The series runs again on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on July 31-August 2.—Brian S. Morgan
