First pole position for BMW Motorsport in the 2015 DTM season

Norisring, Germany – The curse has been broken: Bruno Spengler (CA) claimed BMW Motorsport’s first pole position of the 2015 DTM season at the Norisring (DE). On the 2.3-kilometre street circuit, the BMW Team MTEK driver clocked a time of 48.280 seconds in his BMW Bank M4 DTM – four thousandths of a second quicker than Christian Vietoris (DE, Mercedes).

This was Spengler’s first pole since the last race of the 2013 season in Hockenheim (DE) and the 17th overall in his DTM career. The last BMW driver to achieve pole was Marco Wittmann (DE) at the Nürburgring (DE) in 2014. This is BMW’s 44th DTM pole position since 1984 and the 14th since the brand made its DTM comeback in the 2012 season.

By qualifying in ninth, Maxime Martin (BE) also made the top ten. Augusto Farfus (BR), Timo Glock (DE) and António Félix da Costa (PT) qualified in positions 12, 14 and 17 respectively. Tom Blomqvist (GB), Martin Tomczyk (DE) and Wittmann had to settle for positions 20, 21 and 22.

Quote from the best-placed BMW driver:

“I really didn’t expect this result. Our car ran really well on Friday and we were in the top three in the first free practice session. We had a good race yesterday and were able to score some good points. But, now, to be on pole… that’s huge. My car was fantastic in qualifying. A really big thank you must go to BMW Team MTEK. The beginning of the season was really hard, which is why I’m all the more pleased to have achieved pole position. But this is only half the job – we still have the rest ahead of us and it won’t be easy. The other drivers behind me are very quick. It will be tough to keep them behind me, but I will do my best. I also want to thank the fans for their excellent support. The atmosphere here at the Norisring is always amazing.” – Bruno Spengler (BMW Team MTEK, 1st)

Facts and Figures:

Circuit/length:
Norisring, 2.3 kilometres

Conditions:
Slightly cloudy, 20 degrees Celsius

Pole time:
Bruno Spengler (CA, BMW Team MTEK), 48.280 seconds

BMW Motorsport results*:
#7 Bruno Spengler (CA), BMW Team MTEK, BMW Bank M4 DTM
48.280 seconds – 1st place

#36 Maxime Martin (BE), BMW Team RMG, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM
48.484 seconds – 9th place

#18 Augusto Farfus (BR), BMW Team RBM, Shell BMW M4 DTM
48.547 seconds – 12th place

#16 Timo Glock (DE), BMW Team MTEK, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM
48.559 seconds – 14th place

#13 António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Team Schnitzer, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM
48.610 seconds – 17th place

#31 Tom Blomqvist (GB), BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM
48.719 seconds – 20th place

#77 Martin Tomczyk (DE), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM
48.767 seconds – 21st place

#1 Marco Wittmann (DE), BMW Team RMG, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM
48.815 seconds – 22nd place

*The official starting grid may differ from the provisional qualifying results published in this release.

Useful information:
Bruno Spengler's last pole in the DTM came on 19th October 2012, at the last race of the season in Hockenheim.

This is Spengler's 17th DTM pole and the fourth at the Norisring, the others coming in 2007, 2008 and 2011.

This ends BMW Motorsport's ten-month pole drought. The last BMW driver to achieve pole position was Marco Wittmann at the Nürburgring in 2014.

The sixth of this year's 18 DTM races begins at 15:15hrs local time.