Hockenheim, Germany – The opening race of the 2015 DTM season saw four BMW drivers finish in the points, with Maxime Martin (BE), Timo Glock (DE), Marco Wittmann (DE) and Augusto Farfus (BR) coming home seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

Martin finished seventh in the SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM, making him the best-placed BMW driver. Farfus worked his way from 23rd on the grid to complete the race in tenth place. Sandwiched between Martin and Farfus were Glock and DTM champion Wittmann in eighth and ninth. Victory went to Jamie Green (GB) in an Audi.

Reactions to the opening race of the 2015 DTM season:

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “After a tough qualifying, we made the most of our situation in the race. We had a decent race pace and finished with four cars in the top ten to pick up a few points at least. An exciting race saw fantastic fightbacks from Maxime Martin, Timo Glock, Marco Wittmann and Augusto Farfus. Augusto made up 13 positions after his misfortune in qualifying, while Timo climbed from 20th to eighth. The format produced exactly what it promised: an intense qualifying and an exciting race with plenty of overtaking manoeuvres and a lot of fans. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race day, we must learn from today’s qualifying, in particular, and analyse what happened very carefully. In this regard, we must make better use of the existing potential, in order to be better positioned going into the race.”

Bruno Spengler (BMW Team MTEK, 11th): “It was going well at first, but then I collided with Miguel Molina in the hairpin. After that I was hampered by the damage to my car’s aerodynamics. From then on it was just a case of trying to hang on in there and stay with the pace. Despite that, the car was still really good to drive. I climbed from 17th on the grid to finish 11th. That is okay, but it doesn’t score me any points. We must focus on tomorrow now.”

Maxime Martin (BMW Team RMG, 7th): “The race was very intense from the first corner to the last. The safety car periods made for a lot of action, and the fans will undoubtedly have enjoyed a great show. Seventh place is a good result for us, and earns us some valuable points. It is also a nice feeling to be the best-placed BMW driver. However, our opponents were better than us today. We have to acknowledge that. We will work hard to change that for the coming races.”

Timo Glock (BMW Team MTEK, 8th): “I think one or two people have yet to grasp that we have another race to drive tomorrow. What I witnessed out there was a crazy mess at times. I am ultimately happy with my result. Prior to the race, we said it would be a dream to score a point from that grid position. And here we are after finishing eighth. After such a poor qualifying, we could hardly have recovered better.”

Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG, 9th): “I was really flying on the first lap. That was great fun. I took a certain degree of risk and managed to work my way into seventh place. At first I was able to match the pace of the cars ahead of me pretty well. Then I fell away a bit. After the re-start I was involved in a collision with Mattias Ekström, who forced me off the track. That put me behind Maxime Martin. We were eventually able to rescue two points in ninth place.”

Facts and Figures

Circuit/length/duration:
Hockenheimring, 4.574 kilometres, 40 minutes plus one lap

Conditions:
Slightly overcast, 18 degrees Celsius

BMW Motorsport results:
#36 Maxime Martin (BE), BMW Team RMG, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM – 7th
#16 Timo Glock (DE), BMW Team MTEK, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM – 8th
#1 Marco Wittmann (DE), BMW Team RMG, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM – 9th
#18 Augusto Farfus (BR), BMW Team RBM, Shell BMW M4 DTM – 10th
#7 Bruno Spengler (CA), BMW Team MTEK, BMW Bank M4 DTM – 11th
#13 António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Team Schnitzer, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM –13th
#77 Martin Tomczyk (DE), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM – DNF
#31 Tom Blomqvist (GB), BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM – DNF

Information:

Augusto Farfus made up 13 positions from 23rd on the grid. Timo Glock’s fightback from 20th to eighth was equally impressive.

Maxime Martin was the best-placed BMW driver for the first time since his victory in Moscow in 2014.

The BMW M4 Coupé DTM Safety Car was in action twice during the race following crashes.

Tom Blomqvist and Martin Tomczyk were forced to retire from the race following collisions.

The second qualifying session begins at 10:35 on Sunday. Before that, the 15-minute warm-up is scheduled for 09:00.

More information:

You can find the latest BMW Motorsport media information, DTM press kit, and copyright-free images for editorial purposes online at www.press.bmwgroup-sport.com.

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DTM Standings:

Drivers’ Championship:

Jamie Green (25 points), 2. Pascal Wehrlein (18), Paul di Resta (15), Edoardo Mortara (12), Mike Rockenfeller (10), Nico Müller (8), Maxime Martin (6), Timo Glock (4), Marco Wittmann (2), Augusto Farfus (1).

Team Championship:

Audi Sport Team Rosberg (33 points), 2. gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG (18), 3. SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG (15), 4. Audi Sport Team Abt (12), 5. Audi Sport Team Phoenix (10), 6. BMW Team RMG (8), 7. BMW Team MTEK (4), 8. BMW Team RBM (1).

Manufacturers’ Championship:

Audi (55 points), 2. Mercedes-Benz (33), 3. BMW (13).