Reactions to the second race weekend of the 2015 DTM season.

Lausitzring (DE), 31st May 2015. The second race weekend of the DTM season at the Lausitzring did not go according to plan for the BMW DTM teams. In both races, Maxime Martin (BE) was the only BMW man in the points, finishing seventh and eighth. On the whole, all the BMW M4 DTMs struggled to make the best use of the tyres. Victory in both races went to Jamie Green (GB, Audi).

Read here what BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt and the eight BMW DTM drivers had to say after races three and four of the 2015 DTM season.

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “As expected, that was a tough race for us today. Maxime Martin was again the only BMW driver in the points, in eighth place this time. That is obviously unsatisfactory. After the safety car period you could see that we took two or three laps to get the tyres working. We did not manage to get the maximum performance out of the tyres over the entire distance. This is not at all what we saw during the initial winter tests. We will have to investigate the reasons for this. The positive I can take with me from this weekend is the fighting spirit among our teams and drivers. Even though we did not pick up a lot of points, that pleased me greatly.”

Maxime Martin (BMW Team RMG, Su.: 8th, Sa.: 7th): “The race was virtually a carbon copy of Saturday’s. I had bigger problems than the others with tyre degradation. That was particularly a problem at the restart after the safety car period. On the whole, this was a disappointing weekend from a BMW point of view. The fact that I was the best BMW driver in both races is the only positive I can take from the weekend.”

Martin Tomczyk (BMW Team Schnitzer, Su.: 11th, Sa.: 12th): “I was once again able to work my way well up the field in the race from the back row of the grid. That, in itself, is a positive thing, as you cannot necessarily expect to finish so high up the field from that kind of grid position. I would have liked to pick up the final point, but unfortunately that was just out of reach. I am coping well in the races, even with a car that is not quite perfect. However, we have yet to find a solution to our problems in qualifying.”

Timo Glock (BMW Team MTEK, Su.: 12th, Sa.: 18th): “Qualifying is the key issue for us. We must try to do better in that regard. At the moment I cannot get the best out of the new tyres. I was as quick in warm-up on used tyres as I was in qualifying on fresh tyres. We must find out what that is down to and improve in this area. We simply couldn’t get any more out of this weekend than we did.”

António Félix da Costa (BMW Team Schnitzer, Su.: 14th, Sa.: 19th): “The way the race panned out was pretty predictable. I had a few collisions with other cars, but that is part and parcel of the DTM. When it comes down to it, we are just not fast enough. I was particularly unhappy with the balance of my car during the races.”

Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG, Su.: 17th, Sa.: 13th): “The positive thing to come out of this weekend was definitely the fighting spirit that my team and I showed. I made a very good start to race two, and was able to apply some pressure on the opening lap. Then came the incident with Robert Wickens. We first collided in turn six, but that was all fair. He then pushed me off the track in turn seven. I skidded into the gravel, was able to return to the track, but had dropped to a hopeless position at the back of the field. Even the safety car period did not help us. I basically spent the entire race driving qualifying laps. This has been a very difficult weekend. We must now look ahead. I want to be back fighting at the front of the field in my home races at the Norisring.”

Bruno Spengler (BMW Team MTEK, Su.: 19th, Sa.: 11th): “The race actually went well and I was happy with our pace. The safety car period gave me the chance to close on Adrien Tambay. He collided with Nico Müller and I saw a gap. However, once I got into that gap the wheel locked slightly and I made contact with him. He spun – and I was penalised. Otherwise I would have been tenth. The positive thing is that I will now compete with less weight at the Norisring.”

Augusto Farfus (BMW Team RBM, Su.: DNF, Sa.: DNF): “I had the same problem as yesterday. The front splitter broke, which meant we were unable to continue. At the moment we simply don’t have the necessary pace. That is the state of play. Things actually went very well for us in qualifying. I was able to establish a good position. However, we must definitely improve in the races.”

Tom Blomqvist (BMW Team RBM, Su.: DNF, Sa.: 22nd): “I found myself in a bunch of cars in turn one, and it all got very tight. I made slight contact with the car in front of me, and didn’t think much of it at the time. However, it turned out that the contact was so unfortunate that it damaged my radiator. It is a real shame that my race came to such an early end.”