Heavy rain dominated the tenth race of the DTM season at the Red Bull Ring (AT). The BMW drivers struggled in extremely slippery conditions and were unable to match the pace being set at the front of the field. Audi driver Mattias Ekström (SE) won the race, which not a single BMW M4 DTM finished in the points.
António Félix da Costa (PT, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM) was the best-placed BMW driver, ending the rain-dominated race in 11th. He was followed over the finish line by Marco Wittmann (DE, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM) and Martin Tomczyk (DE, BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM) in 12th and 13th. Timo Glock finished 15th in the DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM, just ahead of fellow BMW Team MTEK driver Bruno Spengler (CA, BMW Bank M4 DTM). Augusto Farfus (BR, Shell BMW M4 DTM) came home 19th, closely followed by Maxime Martin (BE, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM). Tom Blomqvist retired with mechanical problems with five minutes of the race remaining.
Reactions to the tenth race of the 2015 DTM season.
Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “On the whole, this has been a very difficult weekend for us. Even in dry conditions on Saturday we did not manage to get the best out of our package, with only Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann finishing in the points. A tough qualifying session meant that we were always going to have to rely on strategy to get a good result today. For this to be the case, we would have needed a safety car. That never happened. Therefore, 11th is our best finish. We are obviously not satisfied with that.”
António Félix da Costa (BMW Team Schnitzer, 11th): “We did what we could with the speed we had. I only made one little mistake, and that cost me a few seconds. All in all, I was able to climb a few places. That is a good sign. The weather meant the conditions out there were pretty tough.”
Facts and Figures.
Circuit/length/duration:
Red Bull Ring, 4.326 kilometres, 60 minutes plus 1 lap
Conditions:
Rainy, 15 degrees Celsius
BMW Motorsport results:
#13 António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Team Schnitzer, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM – 11th
#1 Marco Wittmann (DE), BMW Team RMG, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM – 12th
#77 Martin Tomczyk (DE), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM – 13th
#16 Timo Glock (DE), BMW Team MTEK, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM – 15th
#7 Bruno Spengler (CA), BMW Team MTEK, BMW Bank M4 DTM – 16th
#18 Augusto Farfus (BR), BMW Team RBM, Shell BMW M4 DTM – 19th
#36 Maxime Martin (BE), BMW Team RMG, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM – 20th
#31 Tom Blomqvist (GB), BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM – DNF
Useful information:
The start of the race was delayed due to heavy rain.
The first 11 minutes of the race were completed behind the safety car. The track was too wet for a standing start.
Marco Wittmann, Augusto Farfus and Timo Glock pitted early on lap seven.
António Félix da Costa was the last BMW driver to pit on lap 22. He did so from third place.
The final lap saw a collision between Timo Scheider, Robert Wickens and Pascal Wehrlein, which resulted in the BMW drivers climbing two positions.
