BMW Motorsport Presents its Programme for the 2015 Season, including Plans for BMW Team RLL

BMW Motorsport Presents its Programme for the 2015 Season, including Plans for BMW Team RLL

December 5, 2014 0

Source: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Munich (DE), 5th December 2014. An outlook with tradi­tion: as it does every year, BMW Motor­sport once again used its Season Review in Maisach (DE), near Munich (DE), to present the corner­stones of its programme for the coming season. BMW Motor­sport Director Jens Marquardt intro­duced the plans for the DTM, the United SportsCar Cham­pi­onship (USCC) in North America, the Euro­pean Le Mans Series (ELMS), the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, the BMW Motor­sport Junior programme, and the promo­tion of priva­teer drivers and teams through the BMW Sports Trophy.

We are already looking forward to the 2015 season, in which BMW Motor­sport will once again thrill fans around the world with another exten­sive programme,” said Marquardt. “In the DTM we will once again field eight BMW M4 DTMs, with which we obvi­ously want to follow on from the great success we have enjoyed in recent years. Our driver line-up remains largely unchanged. Seven of our eight DTM drivers from last season will also be on track in the BMW M4 DTM in 2015. Joey Hand will go in search of new chal­lenges in 2015. We would like to thank him for the great commit­ment he has shown to BMW in recent years, and wish him all the best for the future.”

BMW Team RLL will again run two BMW Z4 GTLMs in the USCC,” Marquardt continued. “We will also race with the BMW Z4 GTE in the Euro­pean Le Mans Series. We are confi­dent that we will also fare well and mix it with the front-runners in the ELMS with BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS. It goes without saying that we will again see the BMW Z4 GT3 in action at many big races and in count­less series. For example, we will obvi­ously return to the iconic Nürbur­gring 24 Hours, where we will once again compete with an outstanding squad of drivers in 2015. Further­more, Alex Zanardi will return to the track in the BMW Z4 GT3. We will once again be supporting our priva­teer drivers and teams around the world within the BMW Sports Trophy. And our BMW Motor­sport Junior programme sees us continue BMW’s tradi­tion of promoting talented young­sters in 2015.”

An overview of the BMW Motor­sport programme for the 2015 season:

DTM: Consis­tency in the cockpit for year two with the BMW M4 DTM.

BMW Motor­sport will again race with eight BMW M4 DTMs in the 2015 DTM season. The driver line-up is virtu­ally unchanged. Reigning DTM cham­pion Marco Wittmann (DE), Martin Tomczyk (DE), Maxime Martin (BE), Bruno Spen­gler (CA), Augusto Farfus (BR), Timo Glock (DE) and António Félix da Costa (PT) will again take on the tough oppo­si­tion in the DTM in BMW Motor­sport colours in 2015. An announce­ment will be made at a later date regarding who will occupy the eighth seat. 

Motor­sport

BMW Motorsport’s goal in the DTM is to add to what is already an impres­sive record. In 2014, Wittmann won the Drivers’ title in the Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM, while BMW Team RMG topped the Team stand­ings after ten races. The award for the Rookie of the Year went to Martin. Since returning to the DTM in 2012, BMW has won six of a possible nine titles and 50 per cent of all races.

USCC: Werner and Luhr bolster BMW Team RLL.

In North America, the United SportsCar Cham­pi­onship (USCC) enters its second season in 2015. BMW Team RLL will once again fly the flag for BMW Motor­sport and BMW of North America. Team Prin­cipal Bobby Rahal’s (US) outfit, which scored four pole posi­tions in 2014, will run two new BMW Z4 GTLMs in the GT Le Mans class. Bill Auberlen (US) and John Edwards (US) will remain on board as drivers. BMW works driver Dirk Werner (DE), who raced in the Amer­ican Le Mans Series (ALMS) for BMW Motor­sport in 2011, returns to BMW Team RLL. Lucas Luhr (DE), who knows North Amer­ican endurance racing as well as anyone, will also race for Rahal and his crew. The season gets underway with a genuine high­light on 24th/25th January: the Rolex 24 at Daytona (US). DTM drivers Spen­gler and Farfus will also be in action at this endurance classic, as will Jens Kling­mann (DE) and Graham Rahal (US).

Euro­pean Le Mans Series: Priaulx to spear­head project.

BMW will once again be repre­sented at the pinnacle of GT racing on the Euro­pean side of the Atlantic in 2015. New to the programme are starts in the Euro­pean Le Mans Series with the BMW Z4 GTE. Five races are sched­uled between May and October for BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS. One man has already been confirmed as one of the drivers for BMW’s outings in the ELMS: Andy Priaulx (GB), who was crowned World Touring Car Cham­pion with the brand on three occa­sions between 2005 and 2007 and spent last year racing in the United SportsCar Cham­pi­onship. As a world-class driver, he will spear­head the trio at the wheel of the BMW Z4 GTE.

24h Nürbur­gring: Nord­schleife experts set sights on victory.

In 2015, the BMW Z4 GT3 will return to chal­lenge for overall victory at the Nürbur­gring 24 Hours (DE), spear­heading a tradi­tion­ally huge BMW contin­gent of teams, drivers and car models. In the cockpit will be expe­ri­enced drivers, who are at home in the Green Hell, as well as some promising young­sters. Dirk Müller (DE), Jörg Müller (DE), Jens Kling­mann, Dominik Baumann (AT), Alexander Sims (GB), Claudia Hürtgen (DE), Dirk Adorf (DE) and junior Jesse Krohn will take on the chal­lenge of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. They will be joined by drivers from BMW Motorsport’s DTM and USCC programmes, including Marco Wittmann, Martin Tomczyk, Augusto Farfus, Lucas Luhr and Dirk Werner.

BMW Brand Ambas­sador: Zanardi ready for another season.

Alessandro Zanardi (IT) was presented with a BMW Sports Trophy award for “Come­back of the Year” at the BMW Motor­sport Season Review. In 2015 the Italian will once again push himself to the limits and fly the flag for BMW Motor­sport in a BMW Z4 GT3 specially adapted to meet his unique require­ments. Zanardi’s race schedule will be announced at a later date. 

BMW Motor­sport Junior programme: On the hunt for new talent.

Following its successful debut since being realigned, the BMW Motor­sport Junior programme enters its second year in 2015. The names of the talented young­sters looking to follow in the foot­steps of Jesse Krohn (FI) will be announced at the start of the new season. Krohn proved to be the strongest driver in this year’s inau­gural class, which BMW Motor­sport prepared for a future career in GT racing with outings in the BMW M235i Racing and a sophis­ti­cated training and educa­tion plan. Krohn will take the next step in his career in 2015, when he will fly the BMW flag in GT racing.

You can find the latest BMW Motor­sport media infor­ma­tion and copyright-free images for edito­rial purposes online at: www.press.bmwgroup-sport.com

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