Timo Glock Second Place in a thrilling Hockenheim Saturday race

Timo Glock and Maxime Martin (BEL) came so close to earning their first points of the season. Glock clocked the fourth fastest time of 1:31.161 minutes in the first qualifying of the year, in which points were awarded to the top three drivers for the first time. Martin was fifth in the SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM. Tom Blomqvist (GBR) qualified ninth in the BMW Driving Experience M4 DTM, with Marco Wittmann two places back in eleventh. Bruno Spengler (CAN, BMW Bank M4 DTM) and Augusto Farfus (BRA, Shell BMW M4 DTM) were 13th and 15th. Pole position went to Lucas Auer (AUT, Mercedes).

Starting from fourth on the grid, Glock made a good start and climbed to third place in turn one. Wittmann also got off the line well and slotted into seventh place. In contrast, Farfus failed to get off the line at first, and fell to the back of the field. While Glock moved into second place, Blomqvist was the innocent victim of a collision in the hairpin and dropped well down the field. After a period of mandatory pit stops around the halfway point of the 55-minute race, Glock passed Mike Rockenfeller (GER, Audi) to regain second place. He successfully defended this position, and was able to close the gap to Auer at the head of the field but was unable to find a way past the Austrian. Wittmann finished in the points in tenth place. Martin, Spengler, Farfus and Blomqvist ended the opening race of the 2017 season in 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th.

BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt: “It obviously feels great to have the first race of the year behind us, and to know that we were competitive. Timo did a fantastic job. He was the fastest driver today, and fought hard throughout the entire race. The fact that we had the fastest car today is very promising. Two of our drivers finished in the top ten. With that in mind, I had hoped to pick up a few more points. However, we have seen that the 2017 generation of BMW M4 DTM has what it takes to look after the tyres and finish on the podium. Congratulations to Timo and the ‘Yellow Beast’ – and obviously to Lucas Auer and Mercedes-Benz on the win.”

Timo Glock (#16, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 4th, race result: 2nd – 57 races, 3 wins, 6 podiums, 1 pole position, 231 points): “To stand on the podium after the opening race is fantastic. My guys at BMW Team RMG have a lot of hard work behind them. They absolutely deserve this result. The car was only really ready just before the weekend, and was very good from the word go. I had a good start and a good opening lap. I passed Gary Paffett straight away, but wasn’t able to pull clear and get him out of the DRS window. That meant I had to defend hard – with everything I have learned in the past. It was really good fun. The fans were treated to a great show. Towards the end, I thought that Lucas Auer was playing games with me and simply saving his tyres. However, he was actually having real difficulties, so I gave it everything. It was not quite enough in the end, but I am definitely happy with second place.”

Maxime Martin (#36, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM – Grid position: 5th, race result: 11th – 47 races, 2 wins, 6 podiums, 2 pole positions, 231 points): “I had a good start, but then got stuck behind a few cars. Then came the pit stop, during which we had a few problems. That resulted in us losing valuable time. It is a great shame, because we could have done much better. However, we have another opportunity tomorrow, and will do our very best again.”