Success after success for BMW customer teams.
Private BMW drivers continue to race from success to success in the 2011 motorsport season. In the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), the drivers competing in the BMW 320 TC are the closest rivals to the dominant Chevrolet works drivers. This weekend heralds a season highlight: BMW’s home event at the “Motorsport Arena Oschersleben”.
The two rounds in the Magdeburger Börde region are special in two ways for the only German driver in the World Touring Car Championship: Franz Engstler (DE) turned 50 on Monday and will celebrate with his many fans at the race event in Oschersleben. On the back of his maiden WTCC podium finish in Donington (GB), where he finished third in the second race, Engstler arrives at his home race full of confidence and with extra momentum.
“The third place in Donington showed that our BMW 320 TC is really working well,” said the experienced driver, who has been driving BMWs in the WTCC since 2007. “I am obviously very much up for the races in Oschersleben. Another top result would be the perfect belated birthday present. The support that we privateers receive from BMW is fantastic. As a customer team, you can really sense whether or not your concerns and requests are being taken seriously. That is definitely the case with BMW. The fact that the BMW 320 TC is so good in its first year bears testimony to the quality of the development department at BMW Motorsport.”
A BMW privateer has already made it onto the podium six times in the 2011 WTCC season. In addition, BMW driver Norbert Michelisz (HU) leads the hard-fought Independents’ Trophy. BMW privateers occupy four of the top five positions in the competition for private drivers.
Cars from the BMW Motorsport Customer Racing programme have also proven to be a guarantee of success in many other racing series: Jan Nilsson (SE) and Richard Göransson (SE) picked up victories in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship (STCC) in June and July, as did the Faster Racing by DB Motorsport team with the BMW Z4 GT3 in the FIA GT3 European Championship. Need for Speed Team Schubert leads the team competition in the European Championship, followed by the Faster Racing team.
In the FIA GT4 European Cup, Ricardo van der Ende (NL) and Duncan Huisman (NL) are dominating proceedings with the BMW M3 GT4 and lead the championship. In recent weeks, BMW drivers have also regularly stepped onto the podium in series such as the British Touring Car Championship and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in North America.
