Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Strong recovery performance in Saturday’s race at the Lausitzring: Timo Glock best-placed BMW driver in fourth
agosto 24, 2020 - BMW Motorsport

Strong recovery performance in Saturday’s race at the Lausitzring: Timo Glock best-placed BMW driver in fourth

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A strong recovery performance saw Timo Glock (GER) finish the fifth race of the 2020 DTM season in fourth place as the best-placed BMW driver. On a circuit that dried out after a wet start, Glock moved up ten positions after starting the race from 14th to claim his best result of the season in the iQOO BMW M4 DTM. Marco Wittmann (GER) crossed the finish line in fifth place in his Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM.

Lausitzring. A strong recovery performance saw Timo Glock (GER) finish the fifth race of the 2020 DTM season in fourth place as the best-placed BMW driver. On a circuit that dried out after a wet start, Glock moved up ten positions after starting the race from 14th to claim his best result of the season in the iQOO BMW M4 DTM. Marco Wittmann (GER) crossed the finish line in fifth place in his Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM. Philipp Eng (AUT, ZF BMW M4 DTM) and Sheldon van der Linde (Shell BMW M4 DTM) were also in the points, finishing eighth and ninth.

Lucas Auer (AUT, BMW Bank M4 DTM) started from sixth place and completed the race in twelfth. Jonathan Aberdein (RSA, CATL BMW M4 DTM) finished in 14th position. Victory in the fifth DTM race of the season went to René Rast (GER, Audi).

Glock spun out in wet conditions right at the start of the qualifying session and was unable to complete another timed lap. All drivers chose to go into the race with wet-weather tyres and Glock made a good start. An early switch to dry tyres saw him continue to move up through the field. Wittmann and Eng were also able to improve in the early stage and seemed to be on course for the podium after their pit stops before falling back again as the race drew to a close.

The best-placed BMW representative in the drivers’ standings was Wittmann in fifth position with 38 points. The sixth DTM race of the 2020 season will take place on Sunday.

Reactions to the fifth DTM race of 2020 at the Lausitzring.

Rudolf Dittrich (General Manager BMW Motorsport Vehicle Development):

“We all saw an exciting race. This third race at the Lausitzring provided mixed and treacherous weather conditions for the third time. We had a very wet and slippery circuit for qualifying before the asphalt started drying during the race. Philipp Eng made a very good start and Marco Wittmann held his ground with the leading pack. On the other hand, we also lost some places during the confusion in the wet conditions at the start, however all the drivers had a largely error-free race and we were able to reclaim some positions. The timing of the decision to switch from wet-weather tyres to slicks was decisive as the circuit dried out. Our strategy allowed us to gain plenty of time and improve by a few places. Timo Glock’s recovery performance was particularly impressive as he moved up from 14th on the grid to fourth. Overall though, we were unable to keep up with the pace of the fastest Audis. We have to continue to work on that to make sure that we improve the setup for qualifying and the race tomorrow.”

Marco Wittmann (#11 Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG, Grid: 5th, Race: 5th, Drivers’ standings: 5th, 38 points):

“Fifth place in qualifying and fifth in the race; that’s pretty normal overall. The Audis remain the dominant force, even here. Our good pit stop strategy made us competitive for a time but to be honest, you have to say that the gap we saw in qualifying was also reflected in the race. We are driving at the limit but the Audi guys are maybe able to take care of the tyres a bit better. You notice that at the end of the race with the increased wear and when the tyre deteriorates. That is quite a difficult situation for us and we will have to make sure that we improve our performance as much as possible. But we are not giving up.”

Timo Glock (#16 iQOO BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG, Grid: 14th, Race: 4th, Drivers’ standings: 7th, 34 points):

“I have already apologised repeatedly to the team and to BMW, but now I'd like to make it official: that mistake this morning was the most stupid one I have ever made. You simply can’t park the car like that on the third lap with the weather as it was. I didn’t pay attention for a second, lost control and made a mistake. So, I was just concentrating on one thing in the race - payback - and giving my all for the guys. And that is just what we did. The overtaking manoeuvre against Mike Rockenfeller was a tough one, but it had to be. I had to get past and I took my chance. As far as I’m concerned, if the race had continued for another two laps, then I might have been able to catch Robin. However, I am happy with fourth place. We have to think about what adjustments we could have made if we had been doing better, but there’s no point thinking about could have, would have. We scored some good points and that was important.”

Lucas Auer (#22 BMW Bank M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR, Grid: 6th, Race: 12th, Drivers’ standings: 11th, 10 points):

“Qualifying was good, but the race was poor. We stayed out too long. You pay for that decision when everybody goes past you. The pace was good, but overtaking was difficult.”

Philipp Eng (#25 ZF BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM, Grid: 7th, Race: 8th, Drivers’ standings: 10th, 20 points):

“Perfect start, perfect stop lap, perfect pit stop. The race execution was really good. However, after ten laps I had no more grip on the rear tyres. We have to investigate what caused that. It wasn’t so much fun towards the end.”

Jonathan Aberdein (#27 CATL BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR, Grid: 12th, Race: 14th, Drivers’ standings: 13th, 5 points):

“It was a very tough race. It’s always tricky when you have this mix of wet and dry conditions. I am not sure how I lost so much time, maybe more on the out-lap than on the pit stop.  We need to analyse it more in detail and make sure we are spot on for tomorrow.”

Sheldon van der Linde (#31 Shell BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM, Grid: 8th, Race: 9th, Drivers’ standings: 9th, 28 points):

“The race was not ideal. I had a really bad start, recovered well after that and made up some positions. Then the DRS did not work right which was so frustrating. I think there could have at least been a P6 in it. But I just have to accept it and move on to tomorrow.”