Augusto Farfus’ fifth place finish in his BMW Team RBM M4 DTM was BMW’s best in the wet DTM race in Oschersleben. The win went to Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris, who pitted for rain tires at the start, fell to the back of the pack, moved up as other racers made their stops to get on wet weather tires, and sealed the deal with a well-timed mandatory pit stop. Martin Tomczyk’s Team Schnitzer M4 was the only other BMW to finish in the points; he came across the line ninth.
Marco Wittmann, winner in the first race of the season at Hockenheim, qualified second but started his M4 from the pole after Audi’s Miguel Molina, the fastest qualifier, was sent to the back of the pack because of a technical infraction. Wittmann, who had led early, was making a move to regain the lead after the second of the three caution periods in the race when he ran off course into a gravel trap. He also experienced a technical problem, and eventually finished nineteenth. Timo Glock also retired early after a collision with Audi’s Michael Rockenfeller.
The other BMW racers all ran in the points during the race, but lost positions in the pit stop shuffle surrounding the caution periods.
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt said, “The weather conditions made that an unbelievably eventful and hectic race –certainly one of the most exciting in recent years. We are obviously not happy with the result. However, it does not reflect the performance of the BMW M4 DTM. When you start from pole, you obviously want to win. However, we did not have the luck we needed in the race today. Marco Wittmann had a particularly unlucky race. First he made a slight mistake at the first restart, and then he was struck by technical problems. Augusto Farfus was able to make the most of these conditions. Congratulations to Christian Vietoris and Mercedes-Benz on a spectacular win.”
DTM runs again on the Hungaroring in Budapest on June 1.—Brian S. Morgan
