Bruno Spengler in his BMW Team Schnitzer M3 DTM finished seventh in the DTM race on the Lausitzring near Dresden. It was BMW’s best finish in a difficult race for the marque, just two weeks after BMW swept the podium on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Mercedes’ Gary Paffett won the race, with Audi’s Michael Rockenfeller finishing second.
BMW’s difficulties began in qualifying, where their setups proved uncompetitive; Spengler, who qualified fifth, was the only BMW runner in the top ten. In the race Dirk Werner, Spengler’s teammate, was forced into a spin in the first turn. He recovered to finish thirteenth, just behind BMW Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus. Timo Glock of BMW Team MTEK was fourteenth, and Farfus’ teammate, Joey Hand, was fifteenth.
BMW’s Martin Tomczyk was nineteenth, Marco Wittman was 21st, and Andy Priaulx was 22nd.
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt said, “We are obviously not happy with this result. It is in stark contrast to our magnificent one-two-three in Spielberg a fortnight ago. The problems in yesterday’s qualifying meant we started the race from poor positions. Unfortunately the modifications we made to the set-up prior to qualifying, which we were unable to change before the start of the race due to the new Parc Fermé regulations, did not pay off for us. Bruno Spengler’s seventh place was a successful case of damage limitation.
"The result underlines what makes the DTM special: it is incredibly evenly balanced. If you are not 100 per cent on the ball ahead of qualifying on Saturday, and then suffer other minor problems, then you will be well down the field come the race. Our opponents experienced this in the past few races, and this time it was our turn to suffer. Congratulations to Mercedes-Benz and Gary Paffett on a very impressive race. Audi also produced a good performance. We will now analyze the race weekend in detail and draw our own conclusions. Then we move on to the Norisring in mid-July, where we hope we can get back to the kind of good results we enjoyed at the start of the season.”
Despite its difficult race, BMW maintains its manufacturers’ points lead, BMW Team Schnitzer retains its team points lead, and Spengler is second in the drivers' standings behind Rockenfeller.
The series now takes a four week break, returning to action on the Norisring on July 14.—Brian S. Morgan
