BMW better prepared for the Nurburgring than Mercedes

Impressive performances of the DTM drivers in the 24h qualifying race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife: Martin Tomczyk won the race for BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert, with reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann coming fifth. Other than the BMW drivers, the representatives of the Mercedes-Benz DTM camp were less lucky. Despite promising initial positions, Maximilian Gotz and Christian Vietoris had to leave the Eifel region empty-handed.

Maximilian Gotz encountered the perils of endurance racing: in the first appearance of their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, the Haribo Racing Team secured the pole and controlled the race in dominating style for a long time – but with just a few more minutes to go, vibrations from the axle forced Gotz to make an unscheduled pit stop – and a short time later, he even was forced into retirement .

This was the chance BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert  had waited for. With their BMW Z4 GT3 they took the lead and crossed the finish line after 41 laps and 6:08 hours respectively as race winners.

“As the testing opportunities are limited, in the run-up to the 24h race, it was important for me to be back racing at the Nordschleife,” Tomczyk said after the race. “Our win in the qualifying race demonstrates that I didn’t do too badly and that our team has got what it takes to deliver.”

For his fellow BMW driver Marco Wittman, the race on the Eifel rollercoaster also took a positive course. Together his team-mates, he took the second Schubert BMW to fifth place in the overall rankings, thus securing a promising initial position for the legendary 24h race at the Nurburgring that will be held from 14th to 17th May.

Meanwhile, the second Mercedes-Benz DTM driver wasn’t exactly what you would call lucky, in his appearance at the „Green Hell“. Christian Vietoris raced for Team Zakspeed that succeeded in impressing in the second qualifying session in the morning but couldn’t contest the qualifying race due to problems with the cooling system of their SLS.

Now, all the four DTM drivers are at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben where they will test from Monday to Thursday at the wheel of their regular cars. In the second official DTM tests, teams and drivers will complete their preparations for the 2015 season that will be kicked off from 30th April to 3rd May with the DTM Festival at Hockenheim.