BMW heads to Moscow looking for the path ahead

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters goes to Russia this weekend for the sixth appointment of the 2015 season. The Moscow Raceway is next on the agenda, with BMW seeking to find their way out of their lack of competitiveness.

2015 has been the most difficult year for BMW Motorsport since their return to the DTM. The Bavarian manufacturer had a glimmer of hope in Zandvoort, but they have struggled to get to the podium and even to the points elsewhere.

Right after the races at Spielberg, BMW remained at the Styrian track for two days of testing, where reigning champion Marco Wittmann, together with Tom Blomqvist and Augusto Farfus tested their M4 DTMs, looking to improve the general setup. The squad led by Jens Marquardt now heads to Moscow looking to find out whether the advancements in their understanding of the car will prove fruitful.

BMW has a good track record on this circuit, as Augusto Farfus was on the podium two years ago in the series’ first visit to Moscow, with Team RMG’s Maxime Martin taking his maiden win in the DTM last year in Russian soil.

Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, thinks it’s time to look ahead and find solutions to the team’s general lack of performance this year: “Since returning to the touring car series, we have won six of a possible nine titles. We are now going through our first little lean patch. This year, the DTM is even more fiercely competitive than before. From one racetrack to the next, small details have made the difference between winning, the podium, and finishing in the middle of the pack this season. However, our strength is our ability to keep a cool head, even in difficult situations, and to continue to work meticulously. At the tests after the race weekend at the Red Bull Ring, we took another step forward regarding the set-up of the car. The two races in Moscow will prove whether we have made enough progress. We have a very good team spirit and that is important.”

Reigning champion Marco Wittmann hopes BMW can take advantage of being the lighter cars on track again to gain an advantage against their rivals: “I think Moscow ought to suit us. It was here that my team-mate Maxime Martin claimed his maiden DTM win last year. With this in mind, I hope we can perform better at the Moscow Raceway than was recently the case in Spielberg. We should do better with a slightly lighter car. Therefore, I am really looking forward to Moscow.”

Bruno Spengler, BMW’s best placed driver in the standings in eighth position, is positive the squad will get far better results than in Spielberg: “This year is not panning out as we had hoped. We are even having problems at circuits at which we have always enjoyed good results in the past. Despite this, I am sure that we travel to Moscow invigorated after the disappointing weekend in Spielberg. The subsequent test gave us plenty of time to analyse what went wrong.”

BMW Motorsport is third and last on the Manufacturers’ standings, with a total of 248 points, 151 less than the leader Audi Sport.

The sixth round of the DTM kicks off at 15:00 local time (GMT + 3) for first Free Practice.